Social media giant Twitter has removed more than 240 Kenyan accounts after a global report found that a number of Kenyan influencers were used to spread misinformation around women's health and reproductive rights in the country.
According to the report by Mozilla Foundation, a Spanish-based company had hired the influencers to push hashtags into Twitter's trending section in Kenya in order to influence two reproductive health bills that had been the subject of conversation in 2019.
"The research reveals how a right wing European organisation used Twitter to insert disinformation and inflammatory rhetoric into an important and nuanced regional conversation," read part of the report.
The first bill, Reproductive Healthcare Bill, sought to make pre and post-natal care free and would abolish forced sterilization.
On the other hand, Assisted Reproductive Technology Bill, sought to create policies and standards about surrogacy.
The paid tweets, according Mozilla foundation, played a role in pushing its agenda by opposing the bills.
International reports indicated that the influencers were paid between Ksh1138 to Ksh1707 per campaign in order to push the narrative.
The campaigns led to more than 20,000 tweets pushed in more than 240 accounts which have since been removed for violation of the platform's policies.
The report indicated that countries such as Kenya are targeted by multi-billion companies in order to spread their ideologies.
“Such organizations see Kenya and other countries in the Global South as new frontiers to reinforce and spread their ideologies,” read part of the report.
According to Twitter's FAQ page, misinformation is labelled as any information or media that is significantly or deceptively altered, shared in a deceptive manner or with false context, include media likely to result in widespread confusion on public issues, impact public safety or likely to cause harm.
"We use the following criteria as we consider Tweets and media for labeling or removal under this policy as part of our ongoing work to enforce our rules and ensure healthy and safe conversations on Twitter," read part of the Twitter FAQ page.
