Tinubu's Order to Investigate Big Tech Gets Support from Nigerian Media

The Nigerian Press Organisation (NPO) has praised President Bola Tinubu for instructing the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) to look into major tech companies and Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) platforms. This is due to claims of content exploitation and unfair business practices.

The NPO is a group that includes key media players in Nigeria. They see this directive as an important step to protect Nigeria's media industry and to make sure that big tech firms are responsible for their actions.

PREMIUM TIMES reported earlier that President Tinubu told the FCCPC to investigate firms like Meta, Alphabet (which owns Google), X (previously known as Twitter), and various Generative AI platforms. This came after a complaint that these companies were acting unfairly, using copyrighted journalistic content without permission, and harming Nigerian media.

The FCCPC mentioned that this investigation will find out if these companies broke the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act (FCCPA) 2018 or any other laws.

Media Supports the Investigation

In a statement made on Tuesday, the NPO said the government’s action followed a joint petition from its member groups. These include the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN), the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON), and the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP).

The NPO said they raised concerns about the actions of big tech companies during a meeting with President Tinubu in March. They alerted him about the dangers posed by these dominant digital platforms to the survival of Nigeria’s media sector.

“We are happy that the government has started this investigation. Beyond the immediate threat from Big Tech’s unfair practices, their lack of openness and accountability can also have serious effects on journalism as a service to the public,” the NPO said.

Worries About Content Use

The NPO argued that for many years, large tech companies have harmed the financial health of Nigerian media by using original journalistic content without fair pay. They specifically mentioned Meta, Alphabet, X, and several Generative AI companies, saying these practices have hurt fair competition in Nigeria’s digital media space.

The organisation believes that this investigation is a key step towards making global tech companies more responsible, especially since similar actions have happened in places like South Africa.

The NPO also appreciated the FCCPC’s promise that the investigation would be done independently, openly, and based on the evidence available. They promised to fully cooperate with the commission by sharing relevant information to aid the inquiry.