Written by Duncan Mililli
NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenya's government has advised lawmakers not to ban TikTok, citing concerns about content shared on the platform, and instead recommended increased regulatory oversight.
A parliamentary committee is considering a petition from Kenyans to ban the Chinese-owned platform. The advisory follows accusations by the Home Office that the platform is being used to spread propaganda, commit fraud and distribute sexual content.
“Rather than imposing a ban on TikTok, the Ministry proposes to adopt a co-regulatory model,” the Ministry of Information and Communications said in a recommendation to the committee shared with Reuters on Thursday.
The ministry proposed requiring TikTok to review content to ensure compliance with Kenyan law and submit quarterly reports to the government on what material was removed.
TikTok, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, did not respond to a request for comment. The company defended its record on user privacy in the face of similar criticism in other countries.
The company faces regulatory scrutiny in many countries, especially in the Western world.
Last month, Italy fined three TikTok operators for failing to adequately check content deemed harmful to children and vulnerable users.
The U.S. Senate on Tuesday approved a bill that would ban TikTok in the U.S. if ByteDance fails to sell within the next nine months to a year.
The move follows growing concerns among U.S. lawmakers that China could access Americans' data or use the app to monitor them. .
(Reporting by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Aaron Ross and Alex Richardson)
