Editor's Review

"You can choose to be misinformed and be trendy or you can seek actual facts and have an actual impact."

Nominated senator Gloria Orwoba has dismissed reports that she was calling for the ban of the X platform (formerly Twitter) in Kenya.

In a statement on Thursday, October 3, Orwoba clarified that she was calling for the regulation of social media platforms in the country.

The lawmaker noted that she was demanding all data processors be registered in Kenya and have physical offices for various purposes, including curbing crime.

"You can choose to be misinformed and be trendy or you can seek actual facts and have an actual impact. My statement demands that all data processors be registered in Kenya and have physical offices for various purposes, including curbing crime, as is the standard practice in developed countries. 

"But someone would rather spin my statement with misinformation so as to be trendy. The fact is, we must localise data storage, regulate reporting mechanisms of cybercrime, and hold the platforms to duty of care and our jobs will be back in Kenya," Orwoba remarked.

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Gloria Orwoba.

While making her submission before the senate's Standing Committee on Information and Technology, the senator noted that social media has been used to attack innocent persons.

"In Kenya, abuse of social media, including the X platform, to spread misinformation and hate speech continues to be of concern with the proliferation of the internet and social media in the country. Social media has been used to attack innocent persons including critical information of the victims," she explained.

Orwoba asked the committee to outline the basic guidelines that the Communications Authority and the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) have laid to ensure X complies with Kenyan laws and regulations.

She further asked the committee to confirm whether the X platform, Facebook, TikTok and Instagram are registered in the country and to outline measures ensuring that victims of social media abuse have access to customer care services for reporting such cases.