Section of Members of Parliament from the Standing Committee on Christian Fellowship have alluded to amend the constitution to curb the growing misuse of social media by Kenyan adults and children against the laid down community guidelines by the founders
While appearing before one of the popular national television show on Thursday 29th May, the lawmakers hinted of a plan to better the social media usage in Kenya than what many of the users are becoming instead of using the platform for the digital economy
“Social media platforms have become avenues for cyber-bullying, child prostitution, spreading pornography, and promoting gambling, to the detriment of Kenyan youth.
Social media is good but it was not made for you to send me your manhood and nakedness, yet that is not what Kenyans do to us. It was made for you to advance and build yourself in the correct way,” Elachi said while before the daybreak show at citizen tv
She also noted that as women parliamentarians, they have gone through bullies and if need be they will open their phones and show the people the things they see. “Social media cannot be the place where you wake up to people doing sex or sexual advertisements. We will sort that out by amending the law, “. Elachi hihelpless.
According to the lawmaker, Kenyans, especially the youth, have taken to platforms like X and Facebook to bully not just politicians but also their peers, which she calls an abuse of the freedom of expression.
“Your freedom must reach somewhere. It does not mean you step on somebody else’s freedom and say it is right. Freedom has its limits, if it is expression it does not say you’re free to express yourself through someone else,” said Elachi, who has previously termed the country’s youth as helpless.
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She cited her experience with her son Elvis’s death in March when social media was awesh with negative comments due to her earlier condemnation of youth opposed to President William Ruto’s administration.
“I stopped reading what’s on social media a long time ago, but people kept telling me what was going on, “Elachi said, adding that the slain Kasipul Member of Parliament Charles Were’s family has also fallen victim to cyber bullying.
Makueni Senator Daniel Maanzo also weighed in on to the discussion, describing the behavior as growing out of Christianity values and principles.
Maanzo, particularly, stated that Muslims community are more disciplined than those who are calling themselves Christians and it needs serious measures to fix the situation before the entire religion is abused
“It doesn’t matter; he is dead. Why would we discuss his children? It was the saddest thing… we will have to change the law to cushion not just us but many more families who have gone through this wrath,” He said.
At present, Kenya’s Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act, Information and Communications Act, as well as Data Protection Act prohibit spreading fake news or misinformation; cyberbullying or online harassment; hate speech and incitement; distribution of explicit or obscene content; unauthorized sharing of private information, and impersonation or identity theft.
However, these offences persist as those enforcing the laws have faced challenges of vagueness with some of the old versions of the provisions.
Some of the social media companies’ terms of use also do not align with local laws, such as in the case of X which allows the sharing of pornographic content so long as it is consensual and ‘not harmful’.