A digital media policy expert, Ademola, has urged the Federal Government to adopt a regulatory framework similar to Australia’s new law requiring global technology companies to compensate news organisations for the commercial use of their content. He argued that Nigeria can no longer allow multinational platforms to profit from journalism produced by local media without fair financial returns to publishers.
According to him, technology giants such as Google and Meta generate enormous advertising revenue by distributing news content that attracts users to their platforms, while Nigerian media organisations continue to shoulder the cost of reporting, investigations, editing, and content production. He described the imbalance as a growing threat to the sustainability of independent journalism in the country.
Australia’s newly enacted legislation imposes financial levies on major digital platforms that refuse to reach commercial agreements with local news publishers. The policy has been widely regarded as a landmark step in ensuring that journalism retains economic value in the digital age, and Ademola believes Nigeria should draw important lessons from the model.
He called on Nigerian regulators and policymakers to establish a transparent bargaining framework that protects media businesses while encouraging responsible partnerships between publishers and technology companies. Such a policy, he said, would strengthen the nation’s information ecosystem, preserve quality journalism, and create a fairer digital economy for content creators and news organisations.