CJID-led multistakeholder dialogue highlights online safety, platform accountability concerns

The growing influence of technology platforms over what Nigerians see, share and believe is creating an accountability gap that requires stronger scrutiny from both digital platforms and regulators, participants at a multistakeholder dialogue in Abuja have said.

The dialogue on Wednesday was organised by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) bringing together newsroom leaders, journalists, regulators, civil society actors and other stakeholders to examine Nigeria’s response to emerging digital harms while safeguarding freedom of expression.

From scams encountered on social media to artificial intelligence systems capable of generating convincing misinformation and impersonating people, discussions at the event focused on how the digital environment is increasingly shaping everyday life faster than traditional accountability systems can respond.

Power shift

Dapo Olorunyomi, Chief Executive Officer of CJID, said the concentration of consequential power has increasingly shifted beyond governments to private technology companies whose platforms now influence communication, commerce, politics and access to information.

These platforms, he said, determine what becomes visible, what disappears and what spreads widely, while making important decisions through algorithms that are often difficult for citizens and regulators to scrutinise.

“They write rules for participation, enforce those rules, adjudicate our nations, and increasingly make consequential decisions through algorithms that most citizens cannot see,” Mr Olorunyomi said.

He added that the growing influence of technology companies requires a rethink of the traditional understanding of accountability, which has largely focused on governments and public institutions.

He expressed that a digital environment without meaningful accountability could expose citizens to fraud, exploitation, manipulation and privacy violations, while poorly designed online safety regulations could become tools for surveillance, censorship and restrictions on civic freedoms.

Mr Olorunyomi said the push for stronger platform accountability must be balanced against the risk of regulations being used to enable surveillance, censorship and restrictions on civic freedoms.

“Our task cannot simply be between one or the other. The more difficult question is how societies create institutions capable of constraining power without unnecessarily restraining freedom,” Mr Olorunyomi said.

Digital citizenship

The Executive Director of CJID, Akintunde Babatunde, said at the event that the growing influence of technology platforms had created a new form of digital citizenship, with Nigerians increasingly subject to decisions made by companies they have no role in electing or governing.

He stated that the growing power of these platforms now affects people’s livelihoods, relationships and access to information, making stronger accountability mechanisms necessary.

“People have effectively become citizens of a digital world governed by platforms whose owners they never elected,” Mr Babatunde said.

Investigations put evidence behind accountability concerns

To set the tone for the discussion with evidence, the dialogue also presented findings from investigations supported by the CJID under its Platform Accountability Fellowship, providing evidence of some of the ways digital platforms can create or amplify harm.

Four fellows presented their investigative stories and highlighted the impact their investigations had generated among platforms, regulators, civil society organisations and the public.

One of the investigations, by PREMIUM TIMES reporter Abubakar Abdulrasheed, examined how fraudsters use deepfakes and AI-generated scam advertisements to exploit TikTok’s advertising system to defraud Nigerians.

Other investigations presented at the event included Sikiru Obarayese’s report on how a convicted murderer in Nigeria hosts TikTok live sessions and runs businesses from inside Ibara Prison in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

Another fellow, Toheeb Babalola presented his story on how a fraudulent US-based website impersonated the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to harvest Africans’ personal data without consent. While investigation by Simbiat Bakare examined how Telegram’s regulatory failures and misinformation are fuelling prostitution in Nigeria.

The investigations illustrated the central concern of the dialogue: that online harms are not merely virtual problems but can produce real-world consequences for individuals and communities.

Participants at the multistakeholder dialogue on online safety

Platform accountability is a shared responsibility — panelists

The discussion later shifted to the responsibilities of journalists, regulators and civil society in investigating or responding to digital harms.

During a panel moderated by Tracy Keshi, a Project Manager for CJID’s Tech Justice and Digital Governance, PREMIUM TIMES Managing Editor, Idris Akinbajo, expressed that journalists investigating technology companies often encounter difficulties obtaining information from both platforms and regulators.

He noted that technology companies often fail to respond to journalists’ inquiries even when reporters approach them with evidence and seek clarification before publication.

“Access to information, both by the platforms themselves and also by Nigerian regulators, and improving the knowledge of journalists who report on tech issues, AI issues, are the key issues that need to be attended to,” Mr Akinbajo said.

He also urged journalists to think beyond publication when reporting digital harms and to continue engaging regulators, civil society organisations and other relevant institutions until identified problems are addressed.

“Until the issue is resolved, the story cycle around that issue must not stop,” he said. Mr Akinbajo said sustained follow-up reporting could help turn investigative findings into regulatory or institutional action.

He argued that regulators should also be more proactive in publishing information about complaints and investigations rather than waiting for citizens to formally report every violation.

Another panelist, Miriam Kadiri, a representative of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) stated that online violations should increasingly be treated as human rights issues with prompt and proactive action.

He said the commission’s legal services and enforcement department has a unit that monitors digital rights violations and can take up cases even without a formal complaint. She noted that the commission often collaborates with CSOs and other regulatory institutions on emerging digital rights concerns.

However, Ms Kadiri acknowledged that digital rights remain an evolving area in which regulators, lawyers and citizens are still developing deeper understanding.

The Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) also highlighted the need for greater public awareness of data protection rights. Filani Funso, a data protection officer at the commission stated during the panel that organisations processing Nigerians’ personal data are expected to comply with data protection requirements, including appointing data protection officers and, where applicable, conducting data privacy impact assessments.

He said Nigerians have rights over their personal information and can lodge complaints to the commission when those rights are violated.

However, he acknowledged that public awareness remains inadequate despite the commission’s efforts through training, workshops and educational programmes.

“One of the major challenges is that the awareness is still not enough. Though, since our inception as a commission and since the Data Protection Act came into being, we have been doing a lot in terms of reaching out across sectors, organising workshops, seminars and awareness campaigns,” Mr Funso highlighted.

Jessica Eni, a representative of Techsocietal and also a panelist, said platforms should be accountable not only for the content users post but also for the systems through which harmful content is created, distributed, amplified and reported.

She said platforms should conduct proper risk assessments before introducing new features, strengthen moderation systems and provide meaningful remedies when users report violations.

“Platforms are responsible in the context that either from the angle of their failure to put systems to effectively prevent these acts, or they have systems that sort of amplified,” she said.

Ms Eni also raised concerns about automated moderation systems and their ability to understand Nigerian languages, slang and cultural contexts.

She said content that could easily be recognised as harmful by Nigerian users may escape moderation when platforms’ systems fail to understand local expressions.

“AI moderators are not trained to understand our language. They’re not trained to understand our context,” she added. She also criticised difficulties users face when reporting harmful content and called for more accessible reporting mechanisms and meaningful feedback to complainants.

The panel session ended with a call for stronger collaboration among technology platforms, regulators, journalists, civil society organisations and citizens.

Participants stressed that evidence of online harm should not end with publication or public condemnation, but should lead to investigation, regulatory action, remedies for victims and changes to the systems that allow such harms to occur.

Regulators acknowledge enforcement, awareness gaps

While participants demanded greater accountability from technology companies, regulators acknowledged challenges around enforcement, legal frameworks and public awareness.

Prince Godwin, an IT specialist with the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), said the commission had investigated digital lending companies and uncovered practices involving data abuse and violations of consumers’ rights.

He said some loan companies operated through complex structures spanning several countries, making enforcement more difficult.

According to him, regulators had responded through investigations, including freezing accounts and conducting forensic examinations of seized devices where necessary.

However, Mr Godwin said gaps in Nigeria’s legal and policy framework could limit regulatory intervention in emerging areas of the digital economy.

“When you don’t have a law that protects a particular space, it becomes a problem,” he said, stressing the need for laws and policies that allow regulators to respond effectively to emerging technologies.