EPL and US Elections top Kenya’s internet searches in 2020

By Samuel Ouma

Sports and the US Elections dominated what Kenyans searched for on the internet in 2020.

In a report released by Google, more Kenyans searched for the English Premier League results, fixtures, and their favourite teams' league standings. Manchester United, Arsenal, and Chelsea are the top 3 teams with a considerable fan base in the East African country.

Further, on sports, Kenyans also searched to know how Serie A, La Liga, UEFA Champions League, and Europa League are fairing.

The recently concluded US elections emerged as the second trending searches as people kept looking for the updates and results for President Donald Trump and the Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

After the elections, is the coronavirus. The majority of people have been online to update themselves on the latest covid-19 statistics, symptoms, prevention measures, and the vaccine's development.

The Tanzanian government's move to declare the country Covid-19 free also raised Kenyans curiosity as they flooded the internet to check for reality.

Tanzania's President John Magufuli banned publishing the number of novel virus cases in the country, attracting severe criticism from the World Health Organization.

"The 2020 Year in Search lists not only reveal the most popular trends from the past 12 months but also give insight into the biggest events in the news, politics, sports, entertainment and popular lockdown trends."

"As people continue to look for information in new and different ways, Google Search keeps evolving to make the world's information accessible and useful to all," said Dorothy Ooko, Google's Head of Communications and Public Affairs for Africa.

Kenyans also turned to Google to search for UK's Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit in April after he contracted the deadly virus.

Other searches were the London Marathon and the impeachment of Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru over gross misconduct and abuse of office.

In October, Google reported betting as the most searched word by Kenyans, with betting sites like Livescore, Betika, Odibet, and Forebet topping the list.