Inside troll spyware pitting 'Ruto men' and a developer

Cyber crime hacker using mobile phone with icon diagram features hacking into cyberspace stealing online personal data. [Courtesy]. Journalists critical of the government or opposition, along with social media influencers, would have faced severe surveillance and online harassment had a developer successfully sold a controversial spyware tool to State House operatives. Mary Maina, through her company Jipe Inc., filed a lawsuit last year against Treasury Principal Secretary Chris Kiptoo, Head of Public Service Felix Koskei, the Attorney General, businessman Jayesh Saini, and President William Ruto's speechwriter, Eric Kipkoech Ngeno. She is seeking over Sh281 million in compensation. All the defendants have denied any involvement or intention to purchase such a tool and have requested that the case be dismissed. However, documents submitted to Commercial Court Judge Peter Mulwa reveal startling claims of an alleged scheme to silence dissent and manipulate public opinion for the President's benefit. To support her case, Maina attached a document titled Political PR Strategies, authored by Jackie Lawrence. It outlines the spyware's functions and includes a profile of a figure named Sheldon Trent. The document describes the software's structure and capabilities, including the power to deploy online trolls against individuals who criticise President Ruto or publish unfavourable content about him. A search of Ruto's name on Twitter (X) reportedly showed that 90 per cent of responses were negative. On Facebook, this figure rose to 92 per cent. Meanwhile, a Google search on Kenya's economy revealed that only eight per cent of content showed positive sentiment towards the Kenya Kwanza administration. "Using our AI tools, searches across all social media platforms show a high ranking of opposition bloggers, highlighting negative sentiments, which receive broad engagement. A basic search on Google, Bing, and Safari surfaces mostly negative news about the President and the government," the document stated. Conversely, the opposition reportedly enjoyed more positive sentiment online. The developers envisioned the software managing the President's and Deputy President's social media by deleting or hiding negative or vulgar comments and responding to supportive ones. It would also categorise supporters and engage them based on segmented topics. Additionally, it would monitor the opposition, track audience reach, and use social listening tools to gain real-time insights into interests and behaviour. "We have created AI tools that provide real-time updates on mentions, hashtags, disinformation trends, sentiments, and regions of focus. The tool also tracks the opposition's audience and influence," the document adds. The developers used a system named Lumirax to illustrate the tool's capabilities, listing several bloggers, including lawyer Ndegwa Njiru, Edgar Bwire, Cyprian Nyakundi, Kimuzi, Pinkai Joseph, and Raila Odinga's communications aide Phillip Etale. The system's super admin was named as "Eric". By 14 November 2023, negative sentiment posts about the President had garnered 1,800 reposts, two million reach, and 201,000 unique likes. Of this, 61 per cent came from men, and 39 per cent from women. Nairobi registered the highest reach at 43 per cent, followed by Central (22 per cent), Coast (20), and Rift Valley (15). Surprisingly, Rift Valley-the President's home region-led in negative sentiment at 32 per cent, followed by Nairobi (30), Central (27), and Coast (11). Overall, online references to President Ruto drew 80 per cent negative sentiment, with 57 per cent of those coming from male users. The software also tracked the opposition, focusing on Gabriel Oguda, Azimio TV, Senator Edwin Sifuna, and Pauline Njoroge. One of Njoroge's posts on Central Bank borrowing reportedly had the highest reach in Central (40 per cent), followed by Rift Valley (25), Nairobi (20), and Coast (15), with 52 per cent of her audience being male. The developers noted that top opposition-related issues included taxes, fuel, and the economy. These topics generated one million posts, reached 23 million people, and caused significant reputational damage to the government. Lumirax AI reportedly recommended countermeasures such as releasing oil reserves, offering fuel subsidies, and promoting fuel efficiency to counter online negativity. It also proposed micro-targeted messaging to manage public opinion more effectively. The developers aimed to use the software to localise digital messaging, prioritise and amplify government promises, and track milestones, all disseminated through what they described as "trusted avenues." Most alarmingly, the software was designed to operate a troll farm, capable of creating over 100,000 real-looking social media accounts to generate clickbait content. These accounts would target political leaders and opposition-leaning figures. The document claimed the tool could monitor leading opposition figures, track their audience reach, and disseminate targeted counter-information to undermine their campaigns. It would also identify internal dissenters and collect intelligence on both government and opposition leaders-including personal history, financial information, and policy positions-to exploit potential weaknesses. "This will assist in mapping and anticipating future ambitions and decisions," the document read. It further stated that the software could research journalists and media houses perceived to be hostile to the government, compiling and releasing dossiers to damage their credibility. It was also capable of predicting media and opposition attacks and launching preemptive responses using its troll network. The overall aim, as outlined in the court filings, was to create an AI-powered system that could analyse behavioural patterns, skills, and mental processes to manipulate both public and political opinion. Maina, the claimant, alleged that Ngeno convened a meeting at Moxies Restaurant in Nairobi, where he claimed that President Ruto needed a covert AI-based behavioural analytics platform. She further alleged that Ngeno disclosed plans to allocate Sh258 million (US$2 million) to the project via a confidential National Treasury ledger, bypassing normal procurement protocols due to the software's "state-security classification." She stated that Jayesh Saini's aide, Nishant, instructed her to send the proposal for direct presentation to the president on December 12, 2023. "Relying on these assurances, we contracted Tesxo Ltd for specialised modules, spending Sh165 million. After non-payment, we had to settle litigation," she claimed in her court documents. She alleged that, upon requesting payment, she received threats from individuals claiming to act on "State House instructions," forcing her to sell her home in Brampton, Canada, under duress. Ngeno has denied all claims, saying Maina approached him informally with a vague proposal and that there was no official meeting. He described her suit as malicious and an abuse of legal process. Kiptoo, Koskei, and the Attorney General, in a joint response, stated they were strangers to the allegations and accused Maina of admitting to attempting to develop software that would violate the Constitution and the Data Protection Act. "The plaintiff's intent to develop such software is, by her own admission, a violation of Article 31(d) of the Constitution and the Data Protection Act No. 24 of 2019," said their response, filed by Senior State Counsel Bonn Bett. Jayesh Saini also denied any involvement, calling the suit baseless and defamatory. "The plaintiff has not established any factual connection between myself and the claims made. The suit should be struck out with costs," stated Saini's reply, filed by Rachier and Amollo Advocates. The case will be mentioned on 7 July 2025.

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