Broadcasting
2021 GOCOP Confab: Nweke Urges Publishers to Avoid ‘digital Sins’ of Hotlinking
Mr. Remmy Nweke, Lead Consulting Strategist and Group Executive Editor, ITREALMS Media group, has urged online publishers, especially in Nigeria to avoid any thing capable of leading them into committing ‘hotlinking’ of images which he tagged a serious ‘digital sin’ at this era.
Mr. Remmy Nweke, Lead Consulting Strategist and Group Executive Editor, ITREALMS Media group
Nweke, whose company publishes ITREALMS.com.ng, DigitalSENSE Business Magazine and NaijaAgroNet.com.ng, gave this counsel at the two-day 2021 Annual General Meeting (AGM) and conference of the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP) held at Sheraton Ikeja-Lagos, at the weekend.
Nweke who dwelt on ‘Know Your I.T. for Digital Publishers’ urged online publishers to be mindful of not committing ‘digital sins’ especially by consciously linking images from another online news medium directly in order to save their own bandwidth.
According to him, knowing fully well that images take a lot of bandwidth it would amount to committing a ‘digital sin’ by deliberately linking images from another online news platform directly.
He defined ‘hotlinking’ or ‘digital sin’ for publishers, as when a website links to an image or other media file that is hosted on an external server, that is, another website so that the image is embedded into the web page.
He explained that in the real sense of it, websites or rather publishers who do this or authorizes it, instead of uploading the image directly, should realise they do not actually host the image on their servers.
“Its like taking rent on another person’s website,” he decried.
Pointing out that though when viewing a website, it’s not always immediately clear that an image is hotlinked, because it blends seamlessly into the page, but the bandwidth of the real host is in use.
Nweke advised GOCOP members to ensure they have a standard image sizes which must align with their medium online because images cannot be overemphasized, even as he said every image or video have cost implications that publishers must be sensible of for the sustenance of their businesses.
This kind of misdemeanor, he said has been on the rise given the increase in online news publishing platforms that emerge annually, even as a cited an instance of a “320 x 240” of 10 seconds would take up about 1.5 MegaBytes (MB), while what is called normal size of ‘640 x 480’ thumbnail consumes about 50 KB or about 20 per MB data.
He highlighted some things digital publishers ought to know to include that prerequisite of different skills in an online environment and always ensuring their domain names never expire.
Publishers, Nweke said, need to know what should be embedded, the cost as regards the financial inflow of the advertisements placed on the platforms so as to aggregate the return on investment, even if you have ‘capable hands’ because the buck stops on your desk.
“You will most certainly decide on how to market your product which is your online platform; basically entrepreneurs think about making profit to sustain the publication,” he said, stressing that though their deadlines are self-imposed, they must stop clicking on Google Ads in their websites from same Internet Protocol (IP) address and described IP as the address that computers, servers and other devices use to identify one another online, and offers them opportunities to publish from anywhere in the world.
On domain name, he said, “Delineated by dots, such as ITREALMS.com.ng. The right-most label conveys the top-level domain; for example, the domain name www.ITREALMS.com.ng. belongs to the top-level domain .com; while the .ng here is called an extension also known as ccTLD – country code Top Level Domain.”
Further, Nweke underscored the fact as digital publisher, they should have fundamental knowledge of Hypertext Markup Language (HTML coding), which he defined as “a standardized system for tagging text files to achieve font, colour, graphic, and hyperlink effects on World Wide Web (www) pages, and usage.”
Equally important, he said, is the knowledge of File Transfer Protocol (FTP), which is a standard communication protocol used for transfer of computer files from a server to a client on a given network and helps them as largely editor-in-chief of their entities “to edit your documents once online or cloud archives.”
As said by him, publishers must take responsibility for their professional development by building their publishing skills and knowledge with distance-learning courses, moreso as an online publisher by maximising their presence and data online.
“You will ultimately be prepared to incorporate a specific wellness activity into your life by engaging in a series of training designed to build more productive habits. So, please take your health seriously. Health is wealth even in the digital age,” he enjoined.
Metro Digital Limited, a licenced Indigenous broadcasting organisation, has accused Multichoice, pay television company, of refusing to obey judgements emanating from Courts in Nigeria.
It said the latest of such judgements is the one that was delivered by Justice Chinelo Odili of Rivers State High Court on May 4, 2026 in Suit No. PHC/3943/FHR/2025.
Dr. Paul Osuji, operations manager of Metro Digital, at a press conference in Port Harcourt, Rivers State,
said the suit was filed by the organisation and two others against Multichoice and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Osuji stated that Justice Odili has in the judgement described the arrest of a staff member of the company and the carting away of it’s properties and disruption of it’s broadcasting business by the EFCC over a civil dispute of copyrighy as unlawful and violations of the applicants’ rights.
The manager recalled that in October 2025, Multichoice instigated the EFCC to read their office in Port Harcourt, arrested a staff of the company and staff of another company, while the suit was still pending.
“On October 16, 2025, the premises of Metro Digital Limited, a licenced indigenous broadcasting organisation was raided by the Nigerian anti-graft agency, EFCC, instigated by Multichoice Nigeria, purportedly acting on a preservation order made by the Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt over the sub licensing of broadcasting content right.
“The preservation order came from a civil dispute already adjudicated by the Court of Appeal No. CA/CS/188/2021 – Multichoice Vs Metro Digital Limited and 20 others, which is a subject of a pending appeal -No. SC/CV/1248/2022 -Multichoice and 20 others before the Supreme Court.
“Instructively, while suit No. PHC/ 3943/ FHR/2025 was still pending, Metro Digital Limited filed an application to set aside the said preservation orders of the Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt and presided over by Hon. Justice A.T Mohammed.
“In his ruling delivered on December 10, 2025, set aside the preservation orders and it’s legal execution on Metro Digital Limited. The court also ordered EFCC to return unconditionally all the properties and records of Metro Digital Limited, illegally and unlawfully carted away during the raid but the agency has till today not obeyed those orders of the Court,” he said.
Metro Digital Limited is known for operating SLTV, a direct-to-home satellite television service launched to provide affordable, locally-owned alternatives to international pay TV
A Federal High Court in Lagos has restrained the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) from sanctioning or punishing broadcast stations and presenters over the expression of personal opinions, alleged bullying of guests, or failure to maintain neutrality on air.
NBC
Justice Daniel Osiagor granted the interim injunction following an ex parte application filed by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE).
The court specifically restrained the NBC, its officers, agents and affiliated persons from enforcing its recently issued “Formal Notice” or imposing sanctions, fines or penalties on broadcasters based on provisions of the 6th Edition of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code, pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit.
SERAP and NGE had approached the court to challenge what they described as an arbitrary and unlawful move by the commission to punish broadcasters for allegedly expressing personal opinions as facts, bullying or intimidating guests, or failing to maintain neutrality during programmes.
The groups also asked the court to determine whether the provisions of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code relied upon by NBC were inconsistent with the 1999 Constitution, as amended, and Nigeria’s international human rights obligations.
The suit followed an April statement by the NBC in which it raised concerns over what it described as increasing violations of the broadcasting code across news, current affairs and political programmes.
The commission had warned that presenters who expressed personal opinions as facts or bullied guests during live broadcasts would be sanctioned.
However, Justice Osiagor, in his ruling, held that pending the hearing of the substantive matter, the commission must refrain from using the formal notice to threaten, sanction or punish broadcast organisations and on-air personalities under the contested code provisions.
The matter was adjourned until June 1, 2026, for hearing of the motion on notice.
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned Metro Digital Limited before a Federal High Court in Port Harcourt over alleged cybercrime and unlawful interception and rebroadcast of content belonging to Multichoice Nigeria.
Metro Digital
The company was arraigned before Justice A.T. Mohammed on an amended four-count charge bordering on cybercrime-related offences and alleged illegal rebroadcast of protected broadcast content.
According to a statement issued on Wednesday by EFCC’s Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, the prosecution counsel, Steve E. Odiase, informed the court that the matter was scheduled for arraignment.
However, defence counsel, S.A. Somairi (SAN), reportedly attempted to halt the proceedings by drawing the court’s attention to a pending preliminary objection.
The judge, however, declined the request and ordered that the plea be taken in line with Section 478 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015, which allows a corporation to enter a plea in writing through its representative.
One of the charges alleged that Metro Digital Limited, alongside its Managing Director, Ifeanyi John Nwafor, and a staff member, Ikenna Kanu, both said to be at large, conspired between 2015 and 2019 to unlawfully intercept and rebroadcast protected broadcast signals in Port Harcourt, Rivers.
Another charge alleged that the defendants intentionally and without authorisation intercepted and rebroadcast broadcast signals and devices, including tiger boxes and dongles, over which Multichoice Nigeria holds exclusive rights in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The anti-graft agency said investigations into the matter began in 2019 after Multichoice petitioned the commission, alleging that the illegal rebroadcast of its content caused significant financial losses.
Metro Digital Limited, through its representative, pleaded not guilty to all four charges.
Following the plea, prosecution counsel prayed the court to fix a date for trial.
Justice Mohammed subsequently adjourned the case until June 29 and June 30, 2026, for continuation of trial.
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