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President Bola Tinubu has directed the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) to investigate major global technology companies and Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) platforms over allegations of anti-competitive practices and the unauthorised use of content belonging to Nigerian media organisations.
The directive was conveyed in a press statement made available to Daily Sun on Monday and signed by Ondaje Ijagwu, Director, Corporate Affairs, FCCPC. According to the statement, the directive followed a letter from the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, asking the Commission to investigate a joint petition submitted to the Presidency by the Nigerian Press Organisation (NPO).
The NPO comprises the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN), the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON) and the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP). The organisations accused some of the world’s biggest technology companies of engaging in practices capable of undermining fair competition, weakening the commercial sustainability of Nigerian media organisations and infringing on the rights of content creators and publishers.
According to the statement, companies expected to come under investigation include Meta, Alphabet, X (formerly Twitter) and certain Generative AI platforms operating in Nigeria. The inquiry will examine allegations of anti-competitive conduct, unlawful exploitation of news content and other practices that may violate Nigeria’s competition and consumer protection laws.
Reacting to the development, FCCPC Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Tunji Bello, said the Commission would conduct an independent, transparent and evidence-based investigation while ensuring that every affected party is given a fair hearing.
“We recognise the strategic importance of the media to Nigeria’s democracy and the equally significant role of technology in driving innovation and economic growth. Our responsibility is to objectively determine the facts and ensure that competition within the digital ecosystem remains fair, transparent and consistent with Nigerian law,” Bello said.
He stressed that the investigation should not be interpreted as a presumption of wrongdoing against any company, explaining that the objective is to establish the facts and determine whether any conduct has resulted in anti-competitive outcomes or unfair business practices in breach of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act (FCCPA) 2018 or any other applicable law.
The Commission said investigators would examine allegations of market dominance, the unauthorised extraction, scraping, ingestion and commercial use of copyrighted news articles, broadcast materials and other original journalistic content for training Generative AI models. It will also assess claims that Nigerian media organisations have been denied fair commercial arrangements and adequate compensation for the use of their content by global technology companies.
The statement recalled that the FCCPC previously secured a landmark judgment against Meta in 2025 over violations of the FCCPA, including data privacy breaches, resulting in a $220 million penalty, although the company has appealed the decision.
It further noted that South Africa reached a negotiated settlement with Google after a similar investigation by the South African Competition Commission, leading to an agreement under which the technology company would pay South African news organisations R688 million (about $40 million) annually for between three and five years.
The planned investigation is expected to mark a significant moment for Nigeria’s digital economy and media industry, as regulators seek to balance technological innovation with fair competition and the protection of intellectual property rights in the country’s rapidly evolving digital ecosystem.
