Government Spokesperson Isaac Mwaura has alleged that unknown individuals are using social media platforms, especially TikTok, to fabricate military takeovers on the continent.
In an interview with NTV on Monday, April 7, Mwaura claimed that the individuals are conducting a 'silent psychological operation' in the Chinese-owned social media giant to fuel coups.
According to Mwaura, individuals are 'deliberately' attacking presidents by projecting them as 'corrupt' and 'old' and then glorifying other military leaders.
"If you look at TikTok, there seems to be a very silent operation promoting the military takeover, and some people have criticised me in the past for claiming that there is external interference on how people tend to make their decisions," he said.
"There is a very deliberate effort; I don't know where it is coming from, but there is a deliberate effort to indignify certain African leaders to make them look old or corrupt and promote others, especially those with a military orientation, and we need to be very careful about that because maybe somebody somewhere is engineering coups around African countries," he added.
Mwaura's statement comes two days after the Central Organisation of Trade Unions (COTU) Secretary General Francis Atwoli called for the regulation of social media platforms, warning that the platforms could catalyse violence and lead to conflicts such as those witnessed in some African countries.
Additionally, Atwoli, who spoke on Saturday, April 5, during the COTU Shop Stewards Meeting, said that the members of the public should tone down negative criticism in the platforms, cautioning that this could chase away investors in the country.
Atwoli said that President William Ruto should emulate other countries, such as China, which are regulating digital platforms.
“Those on social media must stop propaganda. You must love this country; if you do not love it, investors will go away. You will begin fights and end up like Sudan and Congo,” he said.
“You cannot even go to Goma or other countries engaged in war. Somalia has never had a stable government, and we do not want to take that route. Now, it will force us to tell the government to regulate social media,” he added.
On Thursday, April 3, National Intelligence Service (NIS) Director General Noordin Haji, who cautioned members of the public against misusing social media, stressed that it could sabotage national and regional security.
According to Haji, the rise of social media misuse could potentially destabilise the country and plunge it into unrest. Haji noted that despite free speech being a constitutional right, there should be a balance between free speech and national security.
"Across the continent, we have seen a considerable increase in the use of social media platforms for advocacy and mobilization for civil actions. However, this has led to the emergence of coordinated and sustained misinformation and disinformation,” he said.
