Govt Plotting Crackdown On TikTok Live Sessions- CS Owalo

ICT Cabinet Secretary Eliud Owalo on Wednesday, August 2 promised to review the regulatory frameworks in place to regulate night TikTok live sessions accused of airing immoral content.

Speaking during an interview with NTV, Owalo revealed that the move was part of the government's commitment to curb the misuse of social media platforms.

The CS noted that where necessary, the Ministry of Information, Communication, and the Digital Economy will impose stricter measures to seal off loopholes that allow the abuse of social media platforms.

He particularly hinted at amending the Computer Misuse and Cyber Crimes Act so as to safeguard Kenyans from pornographic content shared on TikTok. 

"If there is a way that we should strengthen the existing policy and regulatory framework we will go ahead and do that. If there are concerns with feasible proposals on how we can improve the Computer Misuse and Cyber Crimes Act 2019 we are willing to review and update the act while in partnership with other arms of government like the National Assembly," he said.

Owalo in general stated that the ministry would intervene by reviewing the law guidelines to ensure that children are not exploited on online platforms that attract a mass number of users.

He particularly expressed concern regarding the now-popular trend of TikTok users going live during the wee hours of the night, that is from 11 pm to 3 am, sharing explicit content.

"That has guidelines within the confines of the law that we should not exploit children in the cyberspace and let us start with self-introspections as Kenyans," he went on.

Owalo further urged Kenyans to also take personal responsibility and aid in the fight against cybercrimes, noting that the rate at which social media has permeated society has made efforts by the government to contain it within the purview of the law difficult.

"I have said and I want to repeat that we may have laws that must also be augmented with the responsibility of Kenyans.

"We cannot leave everything to law. The law may exist but we still dance around the law. We must change the mindset of the people," he added.

The CS however did not give details regarding the timelines the government would implement the strategies nor whether he would coordinate with other ministries and the tech giants.

He was responding to complaints raised by several Kenyans who pointed an accusing finger at the government being lagging in dealing with sexually explicit content, some of which have seen Kenyans ignore their privacy to make money by any means online.

The Computer Misuse and Cyber Crime Act provides for offences relating to computer systems to enable timely and effective detection, prohibition, prevention, response, investigation and prosecution of computer and cybercrimes.