Fake news weighs down on Kenya’s Internet ranking

Recent elections propaganda and fake news saw Kenya’s global ranking for Internet freedom drop to its lowest, according to a new report.

A report by Washington-based lobby Freedom House downgraded Kenya’s ranking as ‘partly free’ from ‘free’, marking one of the largest drops among the 65 countries that featured in the 2018 index.

“In Kenya, which also moved from free to partly free, online manipulation and disinformation targeted voters during the August 2017 elections,” said Freedom House in the report.

Earlier this year, an investigative report revealed that political campaigns firm Cambridge Analytica was actively involved in misinformation campaigns during Kenya’s elections on behalf of Jubilee Party.

The company had used the same tactics during the 2016 presidential elections in the US that saw Trump elected into office as well as a section of the Brexit campaign that resulted in Britain leaving the European Union, a process that is still ongoing.

The firm has since shut down in the wake of investigations in the US and UK.

Kenya’s Computer and Cybercrimes Act 2018 signed into law in May this year was also cited as one of the reasons for the declining Internet freedom; through the introduction of hefty penalties for publishing information deemed ‘false’ or ‘fictitious’ by the State.

The law will further see individuals guilty of hacking sentenced to 10 years in prison or pay a Sh20 million fine or both, while those convicted for fake news will get two years in jail or a Sh5 million fine.

Kenya was further cited as one of the prominent countries in Sub-Saharan Africa adopting China’s model of mass surveillance and censorship.

This through the procurement of Chinese telecommunication infrastructure, artificial intelligence spying systems and training for public officials on information management.