The government is planning to make social media platforms establish physical offices locally, as part of a broader strategy to combat what it calls ‘digital abuse’.
- On Thursday, the Principal Secretary in the Interior Ministry – Raymond Omollo – convened a meeting with representatives from telcos and social media companies.
- He informed them that the government was committed to strengthen its policies on digital media platforms in order to stem the proliferation of ‘harmful content’.
- Google and Microsoft are the only giant tech companies with local offices in Kenya.
“To ensure responsibility and accountability in the face of rising disinformation, social media manipulation, and online abuse, all social media organizations operating in the country must establish a physical presence within our jurisdiction,” Omollo said in a statement.
The PS described the rampant hostility against the regime and its officials online as ‘harassment’ and ‘incitement to violence’. The establishment of physical presence would give the government an edge in actively restricting dissenters online.
The Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs also said it is concerned that Kenyans online are ‘misinforming the world’ about the activities of the Kenyan government. In a notice published on Thursday, the ministry blamed ‘some social media influencers’ who are bent on discrediting the regime internationally using AI-generated deep fakes and auto-generated emails.
“These activities, initially sparked by genuine protests by ‘Gen Zs,’ have evolved into organised cyber-attacks by a few social media influencers and seek to delegitimize government initiatives, discourage high-level visits, de-campaign Kenya’s candidates for international and regional positions, while sending intimidatory messages to members of the international community,” the statement from the ministry said.
Recently, netizens have banded together in ‘exposing’ the regime’s overtures to the Dutch government, whose monarch is expected to visit Kenya soon. By sending emails to relevant departments and signing online petitions, the campaign seems to have caught the eye of the Dutch media and government.
In April 2024, the ICT ministry told Parliament that popular short video platform TikTok would provide quarterly compliance reports to the government. The move was in response to several attempts to get the app banned in Kenya, including one where government officials were banned from the platform.
The Age of Regulation?
In the recent vetting process of nominees to the Cabinet, the incoming Cabinet Secretary for ICT – William Kabogo – stated that during his tenure, he would ensure social media platforms are heavily regulated to prevent abuse and threats to political leaders.
A Kenyan, Felix Kibet, sued X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday accusing it of permitting hate speech, incitement to violence, and explicit content. He wants the country’s Attorney General, Dorcas Oduor, to ensure that the platform is not used to infringe the constitutional rights of others.
Kibet wants X to delete the content he deems contrary to the law, as well as the removal of accounts that are not tagged with official names. He is also displeasured by X Spaces, which allow live broadcast of audio discussions, without flagging insults and vile opinions.
“The petitioner avers that the 1st respondent (X) in allowing, entertaining, encouraging, acquiescing in and or promoting in its social media platform “X” (formerly Twitter), the publication and access in Kenya of content that disrespects the rights and reputation of others is in contravention of Articles 10 and 19 (3) of the Constitution,” the petition said.
The petitioner faulted the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), the Kenya Film Classification Board, and the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) for not restraining harmful activities that proliferated the platform.
Over the last one year, X has been a thorn in the flesh for politicians worldwide, as it generally allows netizens to freely express their discontent with respective governments. Brazil lifted a ban on X in October last year after a tug-of-war between the country’s Judiciary and the platform’s owner, Elon Musk.
Several European countries have also contemplated banning X for ‘promoting extremist content’ in the name of free speech. Governments in these countries have remarked that X, with the blessing of Musk, has allowed misinformation and incendiary narratives to run amok.
