Cybersecurity and Data Privacy Challenges in Nigeria’s Digital Media Ecosystem

Abstract

This study investigated the vulnerabilities, regulatory hurdles, and structural threats facing users in the collection, processing, and protection of digital information within Nigeria's rapidly expanding online spaces. It explored how digital platforms balance the need for seamless information sharing with the need to prevent malicious attacks and safeguard user rights. Anchored by the Routine Activity Theory and Platform Governance, the study examined: dominant cybersecurity threats in Nigeria’s online media; major data privacy concerns in the digital environment; adequacy of existing legal and institutional responses; implications for journalism, democratic communication, and public trust; and practical measures capable of strengthening platform resilience in Nigeria. The study adopted a qualitative critical review design, employing a systematic search strategy in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. This approach yielded an initial 200 records, from which 24 empirical and institutional documents were rigorously selected and evaluated using Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis framework. Guided by the four core objectives, the findings revealed that phishing, ransomware, and politically motivated disinformation are the dominant threat vectors, while opaque third-party tracking routinely violates user privacy. Also, the study discovered that these vulnerabilities systematically erode public trust and journalistic safety, simultaneously repudiating purely IT-centric paradigms of digital security. Furthermore, the analysis exposed a contradictory regulatory landscape where the Cybercrimes (Amendment) Act 2024 is frequently weaponised against journalists, undermining the progressive mandate of the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDPA) 2023. The study concluded that digital vulnerabilities constitute a systemic crisis of communication governance rather than isolated technical failures. Consequently, it recommended that privacy-by-design be institutionalised, newsroom security protocols be comprehensive, advanced countermeasures, such as artificial intelligence, be deployed, and journalism be absolutely decriminalised to restore trust in Nigeria’s digital media ecosystem.