Kenyan authorities asked Alphabet subsidiary Google to remove 42 pieces of content in the first half of 2025, but most of the requests failed to meet the company’s standards for takedown, according to newly released transparency data.
- •According to figures published by Google LLC between January and June 2025, government agencies in Kenya submitted 16 formal removal requests covering 42 items across the company’s platforms.
- •Only five items were removed, all under Google’s internal content policies but none was taken down on the basis of a court order.
- •Twenty-six of the 42 items, about 62%, drew no action from the company, another 10 were rejected for providing insufficient information, and one item could not be located.
Google said it evaluates each government request to determine whether the content violates local law or its own product policies. Requests must be made in writing, clearly identify the material at issue and explain how it breaches the law.
The company distinguishes between removals based on legal demands such as court orders, and those made under its internal rules governing issues such as impersonation, fraud or hate speech.
The 2025 data suggest that Kenyan authorities have struggled to clear that bar. While government officials sought to restrict dozens of posts, videos or webpages, the majority of the submissions did not result in enforcement action. The absence of court-backed removals indicates that none of the requests in the period translated into binding legal findings requiring Google to act.
Most requests targeted YouTube videos and Google Search results, citing national security, defamation, hate speech, privacy violations, and impersonation. However, the volume of unsuccessful applications has only risen over time. In the six months to December 2024, Google rejected 46% of Kenya’s takedown requests, up from 25% in the first half of the year. This underscores the gap between government efforts to police online speech and the evidentiary and procedural thresholds imposed by large tech platforms.
The company says it may voluntarily comply with some court orders not directly addressed to it, but it also declines requests that are overly broad, unsupported or improperly submitted. In some cases, authorities even ask for content to be removed “from the Internet,” a standard the company says it cannot meet.
The figures come against a backdrop of heightened political tension after Kenya experienced waves of youth-led demonstrations between 2024 and 2025 over governance and economic issues. The virility of internet platforms in disseminating information among dissenters prompted the government to amend the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act that expanded powers to order platforms and ISPs to block content deemed harmful.
