How are Social Media platforms preparing for Kenyan elections?

Elections in Kenya in 2022 are around the corner, happening on 9th August 2022. Politicians are now aggressively campaigning to make sure they gain slots in leadership for the next 5 years.

There are six elective positions in Kenya, namely:

1. The President: This is the Head of State and National
Government elected by voters of the Republic of Kenya

2. Member of National Assembly: Member of Parliament elected
to represent a Constituency in the National Assembly

3. Senator: Member of Parliament elected to represent a County in
the Senate

4. County Woman Member of the National Assembly (‘Woman
Representative’): Member of Parliament elected to represent a
County in the National Assembly

5. County Governor: The elected Chief Executive of the County
Government

6. Member of the County Assembly: An elected member
representing an electoral Ward in the County Assembly

Even though all the positions matter, the most competitive position is that of The President, as it involves the entire country.

Over the recent past, social media has been used either positively or negatively to influence and alter the public’s decision making in the voting process as there has been a rapid growth in the number of online users in Kenya.

Facebook, (now Meta) has been particularly in the spotlight for having played a role in influencing the outcome of elections in Kenya and the entire globe. In Kenya, through Cambridge Analytica, Facebook played a big role to influence the outcome of the elections in 2017 as admitted covertly by the firm where the outcome targeted young voters via social media.

Disinformation , misinformation and hate speech

Lets first look at what these terms mean:

Disinformation: False information that is spread deliberately to deceive people or hide the truth.

Misinformation: False information, regardless of whether or not it’s intended to mislead or deceive people.

Hate Speech: Verbal or written communication expressing a generalized negative opinion about a particular demographic – either by race, age, religions, political side etc.

It has been evident how politicians are using social media to spread disinformation, misinformation and hate speech as elections approach.

Some of the tactics they are deploying includes:

Use of Social Media influencers, as they offer spontaneity and authoritative voices.
Use of the mainstream media, who are usually offered incentives or favors through their political inclination.
Anonymous bloggers and even popular bloggers who have authoritative voices.

How are social media platforms preparing to counter this?

1. Meta (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp)

According to Global Witness, Meta is unable to detect hate speech , written in Swahili and English which are the main languages used in Kenya.

They decided to test Facebook’s ability to detect hate speech ahead of the Kenyan elections, sourcing ten real-life examples of hate speech used in Kenya since 2007 and submitting them for approval. To their surprise, 9/10 were approved, with the exception of one with grammar and profanity issues.

Meta later on released a statement, affirming their stand in ensuring there are free, safe and fair elections in Kenya.

According to the press release from Meta on July 20, 2022, they outline ways in which they are preparing for Kenya’s 2022 general election.

A summary of their preparedness includes:

Activating Our Kenyan Elections Operation Centre
Removing Harmful Content to Keep Users Safe
Protecting Female Public Figures and Human Rights Defenders
Reducing Problematic Content in Feed
Combating Misinformation and False News
Supporting Digital Literacy in Kenya
Making Political Advertising More Transparent

2. TikTok

On July 14th, TikTok released an in-app guide to the 2022 general elections product features and hosted in-market activities to support access to factual and authoritative information about the Kenyan general elections.

They launched a 3-part series titled #TikTokForPeace, a series of TikTok LIVE sessions hosted at Strathmore University, Policy Innovation centre featuring key opinion formers in government, civil society and academia, to focus on tolerance, building bridges and active citizenship.

They have also encouraged its users to report any harmful content that seems harmful or seems untrue.

3. Twitter

Twitter has not made any significant announcements in preparation for the upcoming elections.

However, they have taken some measures to ensure there is little to no misinformation on the platform. Recently, some accounts were suspended by Twitter. Although from one side of the political divide, the social media users were paid to spread information about a specific political candidate.

Bottomline

Ultimately, it is important for the public to be informed on how they can counter misinformation, disinformation and fake news as the buck stops with them.

How prepared are you to counter misinformation? As a way to measure your knowledge, Nendo Kenya has come up with a quiz. Test your knowledge here.

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