Kenya ministry calls for regulation of TikTok rather than outright ban News
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Kenya ministry calls for regulation of TikTok rather than outright ban

Kenya’s Ministry of Information and Communications urged legislators to regulate the social media platform TikTok rather than ban it outright, the ministry told Reuters on Thursday. According to the ministry, the state should require TikTok to screen content to guarantee it complies with Kenyan laws. The ministry also said the social media company should be required to submit quarterly reports on which materials it has removed and forward them to the government.

This proposal follows Parliament’s inquiry into a petition seeking to ban TikTok. The petition was based on allegations by the Ministry of Interior that TikTok is being used to commit fraud, spread propaganda and distribute sexual content that violates public morals. The petitioner, Ben Ndolo, further argued that the content uploaded on TikTok was inappropriate since it promoted violence and hate speech, shared people’s data with other parties without consent and infringed minors’ rights.

Responding to the panel deliberations in Parliament, the ministry stated, “Rather than imposing a ban on Tiktok, the Ministry proposes the adoption of a co-regulation model.”

Several human rights organizations have spoken out against TikTok’s absolute prohibition. AccessNow, for example, asserted that the prohibition violated the constitutional guarantees of freedom of expression, association, assembly, political participation and access to information. According to the organization, any limitations on these rights must be proportional, essential, and legally based, as stated in Article 24 of the Constitution.

The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) further emphasized in its advisory to the National Assembly Public Petitions Committee that a complete ban on TikTok would deny many Kenyans who use the platform a source of income. It criticized the prohibition as irrational, discriminatory, and disproportionate.

KNCHR also advised:

Instead of a complete ban, the State should implement robust content moderation policies focused on identifying and restricting access to harmful content, particularly for minors. Whereas TikTok’s policy does not allow users under the age of 13, the platform does not contain age verification mechanisms. One of the considerations is for the operationalization of a public system where users would have to input their social security numbers and receive an online temporary pin (OTP) message from the platform. This approach respects freedom of expression while safeguarding children and youth.

Kenya joins a list of countries around the globe considering banning TikTok. The US recently passed a bill stating TikTok would be banned unless ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, divested from the social media platform. Canada also banned TikTok on government-issued devices in 2023.

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