National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula revealed to the House of Legislators that his office has received a newly filed petition to ban social media platform Tiktok in Kenya.
The petition was filed by Briget Connect Consultancy Executive Officer, Bob Ndolo who claimed that the platform was a pit hole for the majority of Kenyan youths struggling to cope with real-world issues.
“The petitioner has decried that the content that is being shared on the social media platform is inappropriate and is promoting violence, vulgar language, explicit sexual content, hate speech which is a serious threat to the cultural and religious values in Kenya,” read Ndolo’s petition in part.
Additionally, Ndolo argued that Tiktok collected its user’s data, such as the device used to access the platform, the location history of the user and their browsing history.
While this poses no harm and the users consent to this as the norm, he says that Tiktok has been illegally sharing this information with third parties without the user’s consent.
“The platform has shared information about its users with the third party company without the user’s consent,” the petition indicated.
Ndolo claims that the application is not regulated by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK), thus failing to remove or block offensive content.
This follows recent disclosures by social media users regarding the immoral activities taking place on Kenyan live TikTok streams.
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The petition tabled before parliament claims that a lack of resolve to the current menace may lead to an unfixable problem in the future.
Consequences include a drop in academic performance, mental health issues, depression, anxiety and sleep deprivation mostly among the youth.
“The petitioner wants the house to intervene and take immediate action and safeguard Kenyans from Tiktok’s negative effects.”
Parliament Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah differed from Bob Ndolo’s ideology. He stated that many parliamentarians are actively using Tiktok and have no reason to worry about it.
“We cannot as a House preside over banning of any app, we cannot fight with technology. Ndolo should have petitioned the house to look at ways to regulate the use of these apps, and how the ICT department will be able to regulate the content,” Ichung’wah contradicted.
He also insisted on safeguarding the platform, as it plays a crucial role in ensuring the livelihoods and careers of numerous Kenyan content creators.
“The government now appreciates this as an industry we can revenues. We just need to regulate,” he added.
Minority leader Opiyo Wandayi supported Kimani Ichung’wah, stating that this was all on the digital scale and Kenya could not operate in isolation.
“We are living in difficult times where unemployment levels are high. Our youth are looking for opportunities for employment,” Wandayi reasserted.
“As a country which is responsible, we should be looking for other apps to help them create content and earn a living.”
