Kenya becomes latest country to consider curbs on TikTok over data security and privacy fears

The government is concerned about how the platform owned by Chinese firm ByteDance is complying with the country’s data protection and privacy laws

Kenyan officials may also be banned from using the app, which has come intense scrutiny from US politicians and has been banned in Senegal and Somalia

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The Kenyan government is the latest to express concern about the popular social media platform. Photo: Dreamstime/TNS

Published: 11:00am, 4 Apr 2024

Last month, thousands of TikTokkers thronged a sleepy and remote village in Kiambu, a county near the Kenyan capital Nairobi, to pay their last respects to one of their own, Brian Chira.

It’s unlikely the village had ever seen such a huge and unruly crowd of youngsters. Donning T-shirts and hoodies featuring the deceased’s name and catchphrases, the TikTok fans, or “Chira Clan” as they called themselves, left other mourners startled after they took over the programme at the funeral service.

Large crowds gathered for the funeral of the popular Kenyan TikTokker Brian Chira, who died in a road accident last month. Photo: X/ CollinsSwanya

Chira, a TikTok sensation, had died in a hit-and-run accident at the age of 23 earlier in March.

What happened at his funeral indicates the explosive uptake of TikTok in Kenya, which last year emerged as one of the world’s heaviest users of the app, according to a survey by the Reuters Institute Digital News Report.

But the enormous popularity of the app, owned by the Chinese firm ByteDance, has prompted the Kenyan authorities to consider more regulations on its use.

Interior and National Administration minister Kithure Kindiki said the National Security Council is considering a ban on public officials using the app to protect sensitive data.