Document details

Mapping of Legal Framework and Responses by Actors to Address Harmful Content Online in Kenya

Build Up (2022), 47 pp.

Contains bibliogr. pp. 44-47

CC BY-SA

"This report details the legal framework / rule of law tools in place, and responses by the government, social media companies, and civil society to address illegal harmful content and potentially harmful content online in Kenya. This research draws from 13 interviews with people active in Kenya's government and civil society, along with four workshops held in Nairobi, Kisumu, and Mombasa counties. The workshops attracted the participation of 105 actors and stakeholders from civil society, community-based organizations, technology companies, and representatives from line ministries and agencies in government. It also draws from trends gathered from Build Up' social media listening process, along with existing research, legislation, policies, and current events. The social media listening process focused on Twitter and Facebook, from 2017 to 2022, focusing on ethnic, political, and gender-based hateful narratives and peace messaging in the run-up to the next election cycle in August 2022. The literature review and interviews focused on existing legislation or company policies that address hate speech and misinformation, along with actions taken by government agencies, civil society, and technology companies to address related hate speech and misinformation narratives." (Introduction, page 1 & Methodology, page 5)
Methodology, 5
Overview of social media and harmful speech trends in Kenya, 6
Overview of the legal framework for addressing harmful speech in Kenya, 9
Definitions of harmful speech and the limits to defining harmful speech, 16
Responses to harmful speech on social media by government, technology companies and civil society, 23
Recommendations across actors, 39