Nigerian media groups seek urgent regulation of global digital platforms

The Nigerian Press Organisation (NPO) has urged the Federal Government and the National Assembly to take urgent steps to safeguard Nigeria’s media industry and information space from what it described as the growing dominance of global digital platforms.

In a statement titled “Preserving Nigeria’s Information Sovereignty: Why the Federal Government Must Act to Secure the Nigerian Press in the Digital Age,” the NPO warned that Nigeria is approaching “a critical inflexion point in its democratic and digital evolution.”

The organisation said decisions taken by the Presidency and the National Assembly at this stage would determine not only the future of journalism but also Nigeria’s social cohesion, national security and democratic stability. It asked whether a country of Nigeria’s size and diversity “can afford to surrender control of its information ecosystem to unregulated global digital gatekeepers.”

Read also: Ghana’s inflation drops to 3.8% in January, lowest level in nearly 30 years

The NPO noted that global platforms now dominate digital advertising, determine through algorithms what Nigerians see or ignore, and monetise local news content “without proportionate reinvestment in local journalism.” It described this trend as the rise of “private, transnational gatekeepers over public discourse,” warning that the weakening of professional journalism would fuel misinformation, polarisation and insecurity.

“When trusted news institutions weaken, misinformation, disinformation, and digitally manipulated narratives expand unchecked,” the statement said, adding that “no counterterrorism, policing, or intelligence framework can fully compensate for a collapsed information order.”

The organisation also linked the crisis to democratic governance, saying elections and public accountability depend on reliable information, which is increasingly displaced by “algorithmic virality.”

Read also: T-bill subscriptions skyrocket to N4.59trn as investors chase high yields 

It stressed that press freedom requires economic independence, noting that a media sector struggling to sustain operations is “in effect, unfree, regardless of legal protections.” According to the NPO, the erosion of media revenue is already leading to job losses, declining standards and the loss of skilled labour and institutional memory.

Citing examples from the European Union, Australia, Canada and South Africa, the NPO said Nigeria would not be acting in isolation by introducing regulatory interventions.

It called for a Nigerian-designed legal framework that recognises journalism as a public-interest activity, corrects bargaining power imbalances and ensures fair remuneration for local news content, while preserving innovation and competition.

“This appeal is not a request for protectionism,” the statement said. “It is a call for strategic leadership to ensure that Nigeria’s democratic conversation is not quietly outsourced to opaque commercial algorithms beyond national control.”

The statement was jointly signed by leaders of the major media bodies in the country: Maiden Alex-Ibru, president of the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN); Eze Anaba, president of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE); Salihu Abdulhamid Dembos, chairman of the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON); Danlami Nmodu, president of the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP); and Alhassan Yahaya, president of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ).