After months of complaints from senior government officials about the misuse of social media, particularly among Kenyan youth, the government has issued key directives to social media companies with platforms accessible to Kenyans.
In the directives, social media companies will be required to establish physical offices in the country to enable the government to ensure accountability of the platforms' usage.
''To ensure responsibility and accountability in the face of rising disinformation, social media manipulation, and online abuse, all social media organizations operating in the country must establish a physical presence within our jurisdiction,'' the Ministry of Interior announced.
Particularly, the order is directed towards global conglomerates including Meta, which is owned by Mark Zuckerberg and owns Facebook (with 3.07 billion users globally) and Instagram (2.4 billion users globally), as well as X (600 million users globally) which is owned by World's richest man Elon Musk.
Other affected social media companies such as TikTok will also be required to have physical offices in Kenya.
The directives came following a meeting between Interior Principal Secretary Raymond Omollo, telecommunications companies and social media platform representatives.
According to the statement by the Interior Ministry, the decision was particularly informed by the increasing misuse of social media by a section of Kenyans.
''The increasing misuse of social media, including harassment, hate speech and incitement to violence, necessitates immediate and decisive measures,'' the Ministry stated.
''Strict compliance with this requirement is expected with telecommunications providers and platform owners required to take stronger action against criminal activities online,'' it added.
The decision is set to affect other popular social media platforms such as YouTube, Snapchat, Linkedin, Pinterest, and Snapchat.
However, the move is likely to face significant opposition from civil society groups and Kenyans at large, as the government has long been accused of attempting to regulate freedom of speech on these platforms.
Musk, the owner of X, known for his outspoken views on freedom of speech and social media usage, is also expected to respond with a rejoinder on the matter.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg made a headline-grabbing announcement on January 10, stating that in line with X's stance on freedom of speech, his company would be removing key restrictions and controls previously imposed on users. Among the notable changes was the elimination of fact-checkers.
