Listen to This Article Enhance your reading experience by listening to this article.

The government is considering prohibiting top State officials from using Chinese social media App TikTok following concerns that it is being used by criminals.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki, while admitting that the matter is complex and requires a multi-agency intervention, revealed that debate on who should be allowed to be on TikTok is actively before the National Security Council (NSC) and the government will soon make a pronouncement on those eligible to join it.

A scan through the TikTok platforms shows that more than six Cabinet Secretaries, several Principal Secretaries, MPs and senators among other top State and public officers have joined the platform and have gained massive following because of the offices they hold.

He said: “The question about TikTok is a very complex matter. Who to allow and who not to allow in this platform is before the National Security Council.”

He added: “Social media has reached an irreversible stage in Kenya and in the world. What we need to ask is whether we want to shut ourselves out of this or how do we manage this space so that it does not destroy us.”

Malicious propaganda

His response followed questions by MPs sitting in the Public Petitions committee, who sought to know whether the government has a policy on how its employees should treat TikTok as a majority of them had opened several accounts in the platform.

“We know that people are in TikTok. We also know that serious government officials are in TikTok and engaging in this platform despite the risks. We know that in the US 34 of the states have prohibited senior government officials from using this platform. My question is do we have a government policy around this matter because it is risky,” said session chair and Kuria East MP Marwa Kitayama.

The committee has been dealing with a petition by Bob Ndolo who wanted TikTok banned due to its negative effects in the country.

Appearing before the committee, Kindiki revealed that at the moment, the TikTok platform is being used to spread malicious propaganda, steal popular accounts through identity theft and impersonation, dupe Kenyans in to fake forex traders and fake job recruitments, distribute sexual content and intimate images using the live feature as well as display phonographic contents to minors thus causing distress to them.

He said it was high time they create a fourth layer of defense to protect the country from cyber-attacks as for a long time, governments around the world have only been dealing with the traditional way of handling security as they only concentrated on securing land, water and air.

Said Kindiki: “Today a fourth space called cyberspace is the theater of risks. We should invest in internal security and defense by creating a fourth layer of security to deal with this matter.”

Kindiki told MPs that following the dangers of the said platform, the government had written to TikTok owners to demonstrate whether it is in compliance with the requirement of the Data Protection Act and all the relevant laws, as well as provide details on the effectiveness of the age verification and content filtering if any.

Worldcoin ban

He said at the moment the government through the data commission had raised concerns with TikTok relating to how it is relating and processing its activities in Kenya as it feels that the said platform is exposing Kenyans to criminal activities.

TikTok, he added, is also required to provide additional Kenya specific supplemental terms in its privacy policy considering the provisions of the Act adding that upon demonstration of the compliance, the platform will be required to register with the office of the data controller and data processor.

Should it fail to provide the required information demanded by the government, Kindiki said they will take action just like they did with Worldcoin whose operations were stopped in Kenya.

He said: “The government through the office of the Data Protection commissioner, has contacted TikTok and raised concerns relating to its processing activities, in particular the office seeks to ascertain the level of compliance of TikTok with the Data Protection Act in order to understand what measures must be taken to ensure privacy of individuals is respected in accordance with the laws.”

And added: “We want the owners of TikTok to explain measures that they are taking to ensure privacy of individuals is taken care of. At the moment we are not comfortable that the company is compliant with our laws.”

Although he clarified that they would not be imposing a total ban on the platform at the moment, he explained that they will engage the National Treasury to be able to quantify the economic benefit being derived from it before imposing any sanctions.

Economic benefits

He said: “I don’t think we are in a position to declare that the risks outweigh the benefits at the moment because this is a bit premature. I am of the opinion that we need to work out a programme where we can assess the economic benefit of this platform.”

Committee members, however, argued that the risks involved outweigh the benefits Kenyans are getting.
“From your presentation, it is clear that the risks outweigh the benefits. Why can’t we just ban TikTok?” posed Baringo Central MP Joshua Kandie.

Awendo MP Walter Owino sought to know the timeframe the government had given TikTok to comply and the sanctions that would be imposed should it fail to adhere to the orders.

Kitui West MP Edith Nyenze sought to know why Kenya had not controlled use of technology yet in countries like China where the platform came from it had been banned.