Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has directed the country’s competition regulator to investigate major technology companies over alleged anti-competitive practices and unauthorized use of news content. The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) will examine complaints by Nigerian media groups against companies including Meta, Alphabet, X, and generative artificial intelligence platforms operating in Nigeria.
Investigation Details
The complaint was submitted by the Nigerian Press Organisation, which represents newspaper owners, journalists’ unions, broadcasters, and online publishers. The FCCPC will examine allegations of market dominance, anti-competitive conduct, the unauthorized extraction or commercial use of copyrighted news and broadcast content, and the use of journalistic material to train generative AI models.
Regulators in several countries have examined whether large technology companies should compensate publishers for content used to attract users, train AI systems, or generate advertising revenue. In Africa, South Africa’s competition regulator last year secured concessions from Google and YouTube, including a 688 million rand ($42 million) media support package, following a market inquiry into digital platforms and news media.
Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
