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 unlawful use of content belonging to Nigerian media organisations.
The directive followed a joint petition submitted to the Presidency by the Nigerian Press Organisation (NPO), an umbrella body comprising the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN), the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON), and the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP).
The Federal Government’s decision was conveyed to the FCCPC in a letter signed by the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris.
The investigation will focus on allegations against major technology firms, including Meta, Alphabet (Google), X (formerly Twitter), and several Generative AI platforms operating in Nigeria.
According to the petition, the media organisations accused the companies of engaging in practices that undermined fair competition, threaten the commercial sustainability of Nigerian news organisations, and infringe on the rights of content creators and publishers.
Reacting to the directive, the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the FCCPC, Tunji Bello, assured stakeholders that the Commission would conduct an independent, transparent, and evidence-based investigation.
He said the Commission recognised both the strategic role of the media in sustaining Nigeria’s democracy and the importance of technology in driving innovation and economic growth.
Bello stressed that the inquiry should not be interpreted as a presumption of wrongdoing against any company.
According to him, the investigation is intended to establish the facts, hear from all parties, and determine whether any conduct amounts to anti-competitive behaviour or unfair business practices under Nigerian law.
He added that every affected organisation would be given a fair opportunity to present relevant information before any conclusions are reached.
The FCCPC said it would examine whether the alleged practices violate the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act (FCCPA) 2018 or any other applicable legislation.
Among the key issues under investigation are allegations of abuse of market dominance, the unauthorised scraping, extraction and commercial use of copyrighted news content to develop and train Generative AI models, and the absence of fair commercial agreements between global technology companies and Nigerian media organisations.
The Commission will also investigate claims that Nigerian publishers have been denied opportunities to negotiate equitable compensation for the use of their journalistic content.
The latest probe followed the FCCPC’s previous enforcement action against Meta. In 2025, the Commission secured a landmark judgment against the technology company over violations of the FCCPA, including data privacy breaches, resulting in a $220 million fine.
Meta has appealed the decision.
The development mirrored similar regulatory actions in South Africa, where an investigation by the South African Competition Commission led to an agreement under which Google committed to compensate South African news media with about R688 million (approximately $40 million) annually for between three and five years.
