NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 30- ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru has called out the National Cohesion and Integration Commission, over their ultimatums to social media giant Facebook.
The Commission issued the notice on Friday after a report released by Global Witness – an international Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) – revealed the Mark Zuckerberg platform had failed to regulate Kenya’s hate speech content in the country ahead of the August 9 high-stake polls.
But in a Tweet, CS Mucheru said NCIC has no legal framework to pull such a move.
He insisted that the Government will not shut down the internet during the electioneering period after a section of Kenyans raised concerns.
The report by Global Witness and UK-based legal activist firm Foxglove found that Facebook carried content on its platform of at least 19 ads calling for rape, slaughter, and beheadings in both English and Swahili languages.
“From the report, it is very clear that Facebook is in violation of the laws of our country. They have allowed themselves to be a vector of hate speech and incitement, misinformation, and disinformation,” NCIC Commissioner Danvas Makori said adding that the Commission had sent recommendations to Facebook.
Makori noted that failure by Facebook to comply, it will recommend to the Communications Authority (CA) to have Facebook suspended in the country.
“It is clear that their pursuit for profit supersedes their responsibility as far as peace and security is concerned in our country,” Commissioner Makori said.
He faulted the platform’s reluctance to spearhead peace messages ahead of the August polls “yet they allow hate speech, incitement on their platform”.
He lamented that the platform was discriminatory in regulating hate speech content in Africa.
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