By Samuel Ouma
A Kenyan CEO has petitioned the Parliament to ban the use of the popular social media platform TikTok.
Mr. Bob Ndolo, the Chief Executive Officer of the Bridge Connect Consultancy, in a petition sent to the House speaker Moses Wetang’ula, said the content being shared on the platform is inappropriate, thus promoting violence, explicit sexual content and hate speech.
He went ahead to say that the content also promotes vulgar language and offensive behaviour, which seriously threatens Kenya's cultural and religious values.
Ndolo further revealed that Tiktok has been implicated in several privacy scandals over the past years.
For instance, in 2019, the application was fined $5.7 million by the United States of America Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for illegally collecting personal information from children under the age of 13 by collecting data such as names, email addresses and locations from young users without their parent's consent thus violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act.
He said if the platform is not prohibited in Kenya, the App's addictive nature would lead to a decline in academic performance and increase mental health issues such as depression, anxiety and sleep deprivation among the youth.
In his petition, Ndolo asked the House to intervene and take immediate action to safeguard Kenyans from the harmful effects arising from the use of the platform and altogether ban Tiktok in Kenya.
Nevertheless, the leader of the Majority Party, Kimani Ichung’wah, in his contribution, stated that there is no sufficient ground to petition the House to ban the App, to which many parliamentarians are subscribers.
Ichung’wah noted that although there might be some app misuse, the House should not wholly ban it but task the relevant committee to develop regulations on its use.
“Tiktok and other online platforms have created an opportunity for our youths to create content and earn a living thus resolving the challenges of unemployment,” said Ichung’wah.
His sentiments were echoed by Minority Leader Opiyo Wandayi, who asked the petitioner to further look into the matter and analyze the positive impacts of the App vis-à-vis the negatives and appreciate the employment opportunities it creates for young people.