The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) has directed telecommunications companies to “use all available mechanisms to suspend the operation of Telegram in Kenya” to curb exam cheating.
- •Telegram users begun noting restrictions on the platform earlier this week on various networks.
- •On Friday, internet observatory Netblocks confirmed restrictions on Telegram on Safaricom, “corroborating user reports of disruption…consistent with past restrictions of Telegram.”
- •The platform has been restricted before, with the most recent being in November 2023 for the same reasons, which was estimated to have cost the country KSh 4.2bn.
In a letter addressed to the CEOs of Safaricom, Telkom Kenya, and Jamii Telecom and the Managing Director of Airtel Kenya, and dated October 31st 2024, the regulator said that the temporary suspension was because the platform “is being misused to perpetuate criminal activities, including compromising on the integrity of the ongoing national examinations.”
“Whereas all other social media platforms operating in Kenya have taken steps to address misuse of their platforms, we note with dismay that Telegram Inc. has remained non-responsive and continues to host offending forums and channels,” the CA said in the letter signed by Director General David Mugonyi.
The regulator wants the temporary suspension during exam hours, which range from 7.00 am to 10.00 am, and from 1.00pm and 4.00pm on weekdays until November 22nd.
During the last similar incident in November 2023, Netblocks estimated that businesses lost Ksh 537mn in foregone sales and benefits every day. At the time, six people who served as administrators of Telegram channels were detained for exam malpractices.
In September 2024, Telegram updated its privacy policies to allow it to share IP addresses and phone numbers with law enforcement where users are known to have shared illegal content or are suspected of criminal activity. This followed the arrest of the platforms founder and CEO Pavel Durov in France on suspicion of criminal activity and failure to comply with court orders.
Why it Matters
Telegram has grown in popularity over the last decade, accounting for almost 1 billion users. Due to its unfiltered feature, it has been used to relay often graphic content and allows groups of up to 200,000 people to share unregulated information. It pioneered many aspects now common on other messaging apps, such as group channels and end-to-end encryption.
The tug-of-war between free speech and the government’s desire to track down nefarious activities online remains intense in Europe and the US presently, as geopolitical tensions unfold. The eruption of a multipolar factor in global politics has caused suspicion between governments and tech networks believed to be pawns of the other side.
On one end, countries like Russia and China consider western-based social networks like Meta and X (formerly Twitter), inherently biased against them. The West views apps like TikTok and Telegram as data conduits for their rivals – prompting their governments to ban them entirely or demand tighter regulation.
In Kenya, blocking the platform has become an annual affair, despite the fact that it is just the most popular of many encrypted messaging platforms and that widespread exam malpractices precede its existence.