Techpoint Africa highlights significant developments across the continent, focusing on a major regulatory probe into Meta’s AI policies, a crucial regulatory win for Nigerian investment platform Risevest, and an extensive international crackdown on fake investment scams in Kenya.

The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Competition and Consumer Commission (CCCC) has initiated a formal investigation into Meta Platforms Ireland Limited. This probe concerns changes implemented in October 2025 to WhatsApp Business API rules, which are alleged to restrict third-party AI service providers while granting full access to Meta’s proprietary AI tools. Regulators across the 21 COMESA member states, including Kenya, Egypt, Ethiopia, Uganda, and Zambia, are closely monitoring these updates. The CCCC expresses concern that these changes could amount to an abuse of Meta’s dominant market position, potentially harming competition by excluding rival AI developers.

This investigation marks an initial stage, not a definitive ruling, with the CCCC inviting feedback from interested stakeholders until March 16, 2026. Meta has faced regulatory scrutiny previously; Kenyan regulators examined its digital platforms over data practices and misinformation, and Nigeria’s data protection authority fined the tech giant for privacy violations. Globally, watchdogs in Europe, including the European Commission and Italy’s competition authority, have been probing Meta’s AI policies on WhatsApp for months due to similar concerns about unfairly limiting access for rival AI chatbots and potential breaches of EU competition rules. This African probe is significant because WhatsApp is immensely popular, serving millions of users, businesses, and developers across the continent. A closed ecosystem for Meta’s AI tools could impede innovation and prevent startups from accessing customers through one of the region’s most vital digital gateways, thus emphasizing the increasing regulatory oversight on big tech’s market dominance in nascent AI sectors.

In a major turnaround, Nigerian investment platform Risevest has successfully secured approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Nigeria, officially permitting it to operate as a licensed Fund and Portfolio Manager. This positive development follows a period of regulatory uncertainty earlier in 2025 when the platform was labeled an illegal operator. Founder and CEO Eke Urum confirmed the registration of a new subsidiary, RV Fund Management Limited, as a fund and portfolio manager. The regulatory dispute began in January 2025 when the SEC flagged Risevest Cooperative Multipurpose Society Limited and Risevest Technologies Limited as unregistered, primarily due to the company’s initial operating structure under a cooperative license before its acquisition of Chaka Technologies Limited, an SEC-licensed digital sub-broker.

To resolve the regulatory concerns, Risevest undertook a significant restructuring and directly applied for a fund manager license, which has now been granted. This regulatory clarity provides Risevest with a stronger, compliant foundation in Nigeria, enabling it to expand its offerings and serve a broader base of investors without the previous uncertainty. The formal Fund and Portfolio Manager license requires a minimum share capital of ₦150 million and ongoing adherence to the Investments and Securities Act. This approval indicates the SEC’s willingness to collaborate with firms that adapt and meet regulatory requirements, potentially restoring user confidence in Nigeria’s increasingly formalized fintech and digital investment sector. Notably, Risevest also secured a US broker-dealer license earlier in the year, underscoring its strategy for both local and global expansion under robust regulatory compliance.

Concurrently, Kenyan authorities have played a pivotal role in Operation Red Card 2.0, a coordinated international crackdown led by Interpol targeting cybercriminals involved in sophisticated online investment scams. Between December 8, 2025, and January 30, 2026, 27 suspects were arrested in Kenya. These individuals are accused of orchestrating elaborate schemes that lured victims with promises of high returns from seemingly reputable global companies, utilizing messaging apps, social media platforms, and fake testimonials. Scammers typically requested small starter investments, sometimes as low as $50, and then displayed fabricated dashboards showing impressive profits, only to prevent victims from withdrawing their funds.

Kenya’s arrests formed part of a larger operation that spanned 16 African countries, culminating in a total of 651 arrests and the recovery of over $4.3 million in stolen funds. This initiative operates under the broader African Joint Operation against Cybercrime (AFJOC) framework, which has previously executed successful operations against digital crime networks. Interpol’s June 2025 Africa Cyberthreat Assessment Report highlights the escalating scale of cybercrime, noting that two-thirds of African member states now classify it as a medium-to-high proportion of overall crime. Critical sectors such as banking, telecoms, and energy, alongside ordinary citizens, are increasingly vulnerable to fake crypto schemes, fraudulent investment platforms, and phishing attacks. Interpol’s Cybercrime Director, Neal Jetton, emphasized the effectiveness of cross-border collaboration in combating these increasingly sophisticated scams, reiterating the critical importance of prompt incident reporting by victims and enhanced government cooperation to stay ahead of rapidly evolving digital crime networks.