Nigeria Launches Probe Into Meta, Google and X Over Alleged Exploitation of Media Content

Nigeria has opened a major investigation into Meta, Alphabet (Google's parent company), X, and several generative artificial intelligence (AI) platforms over allegations of anti-competitive practices and the unauthorized use of Nigerian media content. The investigation, ordered by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, will be conducted by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) following a petition submitted by the Nigerian Press Organisation (NPO), which represents newspaper publishers, broadcasters, journalists and digital media organizations. According to Pulse Nigeria,

Nigeria has opened a major investigation into Meta, Alphabet (Google's parent company), X, and several generative artificial intelligence (AI) platforms over allegations of anti-competitive practices and the unauthorized use of Nigerian media content. The investigation, ordered by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, will be conducted by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) following a petition submitted by the Nigerian Press Organisation (NPO), which represents newspaper publishers, broadcasters, journalists and digital media organizations. According to Pulse Nigeria, the petition alleges that the technology companies abused their market dominance, unlawfully used copyrighted Nigerian news content to train AI models, and denied local media organizations fair compensation for the commercial use of their content. FCCPC Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Tunji Bello said the inquiry is an independent fact-finding process and should not be interpreted as a presumption of wrongdoing. The commission will examine whether the companies violated Nigeria's competition, consumer protection or copyright laws through alleged anti-competitive practices, unauthorized content scraping and the commercial use of journalistic material. The investigation also comes as Meta continues to appeal a $220 million penalty previously imposed by Nigerian regulators over alleged breaches of the country's consumer and data protection laws. If evidence of wrongdoing is established, the probe could become one of Nigeria's most significant regulatory actions against global technology companies, with major implications for how Big Tech and AI developers access, use and compensate Nigerian media organizations for their content.