NPO commends Tinubu’s directive to FCCPC to investigate big tech, AI platforms over content exploitation - ITREALMS

The Nigerian Press Organisation (NPO) has strongly commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, following his executive directive ordering the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) to launch a comprehensive investigation into global technology giants and generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) platforms operating within Nigeria, reports ITREALMS.

The NPO noted that this decisive presidential intervention is a direct result of a joint petition and high-level advocacy spearheaded by its constituent bodies, which include 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 formal probe stems from an emergency engagement in March, when an official NPO delegation met with President Tinubu to register grave concerns regarding the existential threat posed to the domestic press by unregulated global tech firms.

In a statement signed by the Deputy President of the NPAN/NPO, Mr. Frank Aigbogun, the media coalition expressed profound satisfaction with the government's swift regulatory activation.

“Beyond the clear and present danger posed by Big Tech’s anti-competitive behaviour, their lack of transparency and accountability also carries very serious consequences for journalism as a public-interest good," the statement read.

For nearly a decade, the economic sustainability of Nigeria’s vibrant media ecosystem has been aggressively cannibalized by the unfair market practices of dominant digital platforms, including Meta, Alphabet, X (formerly Twitter), and frontier generative AI models.

Noting that these cross-continental conglomerates have consistently undermined fair competition and local corporate viability by extracting, scraping, and exploiting original journalistic content without establishing equitable revenue-sharing or licensing compensation frameworks.

The NPO described the probe as a monumental milestone in the continental journey to finally hold technology monopolies accountable, drawing parallels to successful regulatory renegotiations globally, most notably the landmark compensation structures recently secured by news publishers in South Africa.

Furthermore, the media cartel welcomed the formal assurances offered by the Executive Vice Chairman and CEO of the FCCPC, Mr. Tunji Bello; following the statutory request transmitted by the Honourable Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, pledging to execute an entirely independent, transparent, and evidence-based antitrust inquiry.

Reaffirming its commitment to structural rebalancing, the NPO stated that it stands fully prepared to partner with federal investigators:


"The NPO, alongside its constituent bodies, stands ready to cooperate fully with the FCCPC during this inquiry, providing all necessary empirical evidence to ensure a balanced digital economy that respects Nigerian sovereignty and protects the intellectual property rights of Nigerian publishers."