Nigeria's Bold Move: Regulating Global Tech Giants Over News Use

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has ordered an investigation into major tech companies like Meta and Alphabet for anti-competitive practices and unauthorized use of news content. This crackdown by Nigeria could challenge global digital platforms' dominance in news distribution and monetization amid growing global scrutiny.

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has ordered the country's competition regulator to investigate major tech companies for alleged anti-competitive practices and unauthorized use of news content, according to the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) late Monday.

The inquiry aims to address complaints from the Nigerian Press Organisation against companies including Meta, Alphabet, X, and generative AI platforms. The investigation seeks to determine if these companies have misused journalistic content to train AI models or violated copyright laws.

Such investigations echo similar regulatory moves in countries like South Africa, France, Australia, and Canada, challenging tech giants to compensate or negotiate agreements with publishers over digital content use.