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Nairobi addresses online poll threat

Publish date: 19 July 2017
Issue Number: 1692
Diary: Legalbrief eLaw
Category: Internet

A decade after a wave of violence swept through Kenya following a disputed presidential election, the country is gearing for what is expected to be another fiercely-contested poll. And Legalbrief reports that the online space is likely to become a hotly contested platform for all the political players. The issue was addressed at the 10th Internet Governance Forum in Nairobi two weeks ago. UNESCO noted that technology will be deployed at a level that has not happened in the previous general elections. ‘In addition, a pattern has emerged in the region where governments have shut down the Internet during times of political agitations,’ it said in a statement. The Kenyan Government on Monday noted that it is ‘unlikely’ to shut down the Internet during the elections but some social media might be restricted, government officials have noted. Communication Authority of Kenya chief Francis Wangusi warned that the Internet should not be used to release ‘alternative election results’. A report on the News24 site notes that the chairperson of the National Cohesive and Integration Commission, Francis Ole Kaparo, said social media platforms would be closely monitored. The commission was formed to monitor hate speech and incitement after bloody post-election violence a decade ago. ‘There are terrible people on social media who are hell-bent on causing unnecessary anxiety across the country,’ Kaparo said, according to the report. It notes governments in neighbouring Burundi, Uganda and Ethiopia have shut down Internet access during elections. Rights defenders say such blackouts can facilitate serious abuses.

Full Fin24 report

Meanwhile, a strikingly toxic campaign ad has been unleashed online ahead of the elections. The Daily Mail reports that the 90-second video, shot in moody monochrome, presented a dystopia in which Raila Odinga, the leading opposition candidate, wins the August vote and plunges the nation into a violent and inept dictatorship. Under this scenario, tribes would be set against one another while terrorists run riot. ‘Stop Raila, Save Kenya. The Future of Kenya is in Your Hands,’ the video said. It is unclear who is behind the video, but some are blaming Cambridge Analytica (CA), a company credited with using its data mining and psychological profiling techniques to help swing recent elections in the US and UK. ‘Here it can lead to war,’ said John Githongo, a veteran anti-corruption campaigner. ‘The wrong video, the wrong information, it can go out of control.’ Paul-Olivier Dehaye, a Swiss data activist who has studied CA's techniques, said there are very strong communities in Kenya ‘and that's exactly the kind of situation present where you can start to drive different conversations about the election in different sub-communities’. ‘We've seen it with Brexit and the US election, and the same can be done in Kenya, or elsewhere that there's a lot of fragmentation already,’ Dehaye added, according to the report.

Full Daily Mail report

In neighbouring Somalia, the authorities say the Internet has returned after an outage of more than three weeks cost the Horn of Africa nation about $10m a day. Hormuud Telecom, Somalia's largest telecom company, announced the restoration of service in a message to subscribers on Monday. A report on the Phys Org site notes that the loss of the Internet service sparked anger across Somalia and affected the central and southern parts of the country including the capital, Mogadishu. The government called it a ‘major disaster’. Officials and Internet providers attributed the problem to a commercial ship that they said cut an undersea cable. Major companies reported millions of dollars in revenue losses.

Full report on the Phys Org site

And four South Sudanese news websites and blogs have been partially blocked due to a government crackdown on independent media. Radio Tamazuj, a Dutch-backed radio station and website, announced on its Twitter account that it had been blocked in South Sudan. A report on the EWN site notes that some Internet users said the Paris-based Sudan Tribune news website was also affected on some mobile phone and Wi-Fi networks. A National Communication Authority official who would not give his name reportedly told Reuters the order to block the websites was 'government policy'.

Full report on the EWN site

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