New Internet Without Borders Report: Harmful Online Speech Threatens Kenya's Democracy, Safety, and Civic Rights - Internet Sans Frontières
Paris, 11/26/2025 – Internet Without Borders today released a groundbreaking report, “Voices at Risk: Moderating Without Stifling, Protecting Without Censoring in Kenya”, exposing how harmful speech from disinformation and hate speech is fueling civic insecurity and undermining democracy in the digital age.
This report is Internet Without Borders’ contribution to the #KenSafeSpace coalition’s efforts to safeguard a democratic and safe online space in Kenya.
The report captures six months of citizen-led monitoring of online hate speech, disinformation, and other harmful content, revealing how everyday Kenyans are shouldering the burden of defending their digital public square. Through this initiative, Internet Sans Frontières and its partners not only amplify grassroots vigilance, but also help transform citizen reporting into actionable policy insights and advocacy tools.
Key Findings include:
- Risk of hate speech, particularly based on ethnicity and religion: This is the most common type of content, accounting for 43% of the discourse observed by the coalition.
- Increased risk of electoral disinformation: close to 230% of the content analyzed disseminates false information about electoral processes.
- Online violence against vulnerable people: 26% of posts contain violence against women, especially female politicians.
Internet Without Borders Calls for Action
Internet Without Borders is calling on tech companies, governments, and citizens to act:
- Platforms: proactive moderation capabilities in local languages are urgently needed, including the detection of coded or abusive content.
- Kenyan Authorities: should refrain from cutting off access to social media platforms, and should refrain from using the law to stifle free expression online.
- Civil Society: Maintain coordinated, multilingual observatories to monitor hate speech, misinformation and dangerous discourse.
- Donors: Fund rapid alert and response centres against disinformation and hate speech, which can be mobilised before and during electoral crises.
- Citizens: continue reporting harmful content using tools like the KenSafeSpace Reporting Form: https://form.typeform.com/to/NQjyeL6b.
What we observed in Kenya is not an isolated problem. It is an early signal of what a ‘post-moderation’ internet looks like: a space where harmful content spreads unchecked and where governments feel justified in intervening with heavy-handed measures. Reducing moderation does not strengthen free speech, it accelerates its erosion.
Julie Owono, Executive Director, Internet Without Borders
About the Report
The Report, “Voices at Risk: Moderating Without Stifling In Kenya”, is published by Internet Sans Frontières in collaboration with the #KenSafeSpace coalition, with the support of the European Union (European Commission).
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