Petition: Stop tech-facilitated violence against young activists in Kenya

Introduction

Young Kenyans mobilized peacefully, both online and offline, to demand accountability and economic justice during the #RejectFinanceBill protests in 2024. In response, Kenyan security agencies have cracked down on young people’s right to protest through smear campaigns, harassment, surveillance, disappearances, and even killings of young activists. The digital platform X allowed state-sponsored groups to spread coordinated disinformation and harassment against activists, whilst Kenya’s largest telecommunications company, Safaricom, failed to investigate claims of illegal data sharing that is alleged to have allowed security agencies to track down young protesters. This petition calls for bold action, accountability, and protection of Kenya’s digital civic space.

What is the Problem?

Since mid-2024, Kenyan security agencies have carried out arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, intimidation, and unlawful killings targeting peaceful protesters and online activists.
Coordinated troll operations, including state-linked networks such as the “527 bloggers” have been used to smear young people as “foreign agents” or “paid activists,” creating fear and silencing dissent online.
X has failed to prevent coordinated inauthentic behaviour, abuse, and manipulation on its platform, allowing targeted harassment campaigns to flourish and putting activists at risk.
Kenya’s Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act still contains vague and overly broad provisions that are weaponised to criminalise satire, journalism, criticism, and protest organising.

Together, these actions have created a hostile digital environment where Kenyan youth fear speaking out.

Our Demands

To the Government of Kenya

Immediately stop all tech-facilitated violence carried out by Kenyan security agencies against peaceful protesters and civil society, including dismantling troll networks such as the “527 bloggers.”
Amend the Computer Misuse & Cybercrimes Act, particularly Sections 3, 6, 27, and 30, to remove vague language used to target legitimate dissent and criticism, and bring the law into full alignment with the Constitution and international human rights standards.
Investigate all abuses by Kenyan security agencies, including unlawful surveillance, enforced disappearances, torture, and unlawful killings related to the Gen Z protests. Provide full reparations to survivors and families.

To X

Overhaul human-rights due diligence and integrate rights protections into all algorithmic, content-moderation, and platform-governance systems.
Detect and remove coordinated inauthentic behaviour, particularly abusive networks amplifying smear campaigns against Kenyan youth.
Invest in Kenyan content moderation and provide transparent reporting and appeal systems for affected users.

To Safaricom

Submit to an independent investigation into allegations of unlawful customer-data sharing with police and intelligence agencies.
Publicly release the findings of the investigation and all related internal audits.
Implement strong human-rights due diligence, including policies that prevent misuse of subscriber data and ensure Safaricom does not assist surveillance or intimidation of activists.

Digital spaces should empower young people, not endanger them. State-sponsored digital violence is undermining constitutional freedoms and risks silencing a generation, and X and Safaricom must take steps to ensure that they properly investigate these allegations and implement human rights-compliant policies. Kenyan youth deserve a safe digital environment where they can organise, speak out, and hold power to account without fear.