The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) has launched a formal inquiry and issued ultimatums to ByteDance’s TikTok after a BBC report traced the sale of sexual content involving minors via livestreams on the platform.
- •The industry regulator wants TikTok to explain how offensive content is able to bypass its content moderation mechanisms and how they intend to strengthen child protection and prevent exploitation of minors on the platform.
- •It also wants the platform to actively pull down all sexual content involving minors on their platform including on livestreams and intensify efforts to educate the public.
- •According to the BBC, content involving minors is often advertised at night, and using coded messages to avoid being caught by the platform’s content moderation mechanisms.
“The allegations contained in the report by the BBC constitute a violation of Kenyan and international laws and regulations governing online conduct and the protection of children,” CA Director David Mugonyi said. “These new allegations suggest that significant gaps remain in the platform’s enforcement of its own policies against solicitation and exploitation.”
In 2023, Kenya directed TikTok to address its apparent content moderation challenges after a petition in Parliament to ban the platform. The petitioner cited explicit content and lack of privacy among other reasons. In a subsequent meeting with President William Ruto, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew committed to ensure that content on the platform is moderated to fit community standards.
“It’s not in TikTok’s interest to clamp down on soliciting of sex – the more people give gifts on a livestream… [the] more revenue for TikTok,” a Kenyan former moderator told BBC.
During the August 2023 virtual meeting with President William Ruto, Chew also agreed to set up a Kenyan office to coordinate its operations in the continent. He pledged to hire more Kenyans to work for the platform. According to the BBC, Tiktok’s increasing reliance on artificial intelligence (AI) for moderation is also to blame, since it is not conversant with local lingo and codes.
“CA will not hesitate to issue sanctions,” Mugonyi added.
