The Federal Government has ordered the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) to investigate X (formerly Twitter), Meta, and other major technology and Generative AI companies over allegations of anti-media and anti-competitive practices in Nigeria.
The FCCPC disclosed this in a statement issued yesterday, noting that the directive followed a joint petition sent to the Presidency by the Nigerian Press Organisation (NPO) — an umbrella body made up of 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 Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, conveyed the government’s directive in a letter asking the commission to look into the allegations raised by the media groups.
The petition claimed that companies such as Meta, Alphabet, and X, along with some Generative AI platforms, were engaging in practices that undermine fair competition, threaten the commercial survival of Nigerian media houses, and infringe on the rights of publishers and content creators.
The FCCPC said its investigation would cover allegations of market dominance, unauthorised scraping of copyrighted news content for training AI models, and the lack of fair commercial agreements between global tech firms and Nigerian publishers.
Speaking on the development, the commission’s Executive Vice Chairman and CEO, Tunji Bello, said the probe would be conducted in an independent, transparent, and evidence-based manner.
He said the commission understood the media’s importance to Nigeria’s democracy just as much as the role technology plays in driving innovation and growth, and that its job was to establish the facts objectively while keeping the digital space fair and lawful.
Bello added that the investigation should not be taken as an assumption of guilt against any company, noting that all affected parties would get a chance to state their case before any findings are made. He said the commission would ultimately determine whether any of the companies breached the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act (FCCPA) 2018 or any other relevant law.
The FCCPC had earlier investigated Meta and, in 2025, fined the company $220 million over FCCPA violations — a ruling Meta has since appealed.
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