Harry Archie
President Bola Tinubu has ordered the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) to investigate global tech companies, including Meta, Alphabet (Google), X (formerly Twitter), and some Artificial Intelligence (AI) platforms.
The investigation follows a petition from the Nigerian Press Organisation (NPO), which represents newspaper owners, journalists, broadcasters and online publishers.
The group accused the companies of unfair business practices and using content from Nigerian media without proper permission or payment.
The FCCPC said it will carry out a fair and independent investigation to find out whether the companies broke Nigeria’s competition and consumer protection laws.
The commission stressed that the probe does not mean any company has been found guilty.
The investigation will look into claims that the companies copied or used Nigerian news content to train AI systems without permission.
It will also examine whether Nigerian media organisations have been unfairly denied payment for the use of their content.
The commission noted that it previously fined Meta $220 million in 2025 over data privacy violations, although the company has appealed the decision.
It also pointed to South Africa, where Google agreed to pay local news organisations after a similar investigation.
