Kenya’s Parliament has been petitioned to ban the usage of the popular social media app TikTok.
According to the petitioner, Bob Ndolo, who is the Executive Officer of Bridget Connect Consultancy, the TikTok platform has continued to degrade Kenya’s cultural and religious standards.
Ndolo asked MPs in his petition to the National Assembly on Tuesday that the usage of TikTok exposes young people to graphic sexual and violent content.
According to the petitioner, the content published on the site is “unsuitable, promoting violence, explicit sexual content, hate speech, vulgar language, and objectionable behaviours, posing a major threat to cultural and religious values.”
He accused the Kenyan Communications Authority of failing to police the use of internet, making it difficult to control the information shared on TikTo.
Ndolo cautioned that if the app is not prohibited in Kenya, its addictive nature will lead to a drop in academic performance and an increase in mental ill-health cases among the youth.
In response, Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wa stated that parliament cannot preside over the app’s suspension because it has provided work for the vast majority of young people.
“The petitioner should come to seek on how to regulate the usage of the app, age group and content uploaded for a certain age to watch, outright banning would be killing careers of many young people who are earning a living through it.”
“These apps are part of the government effort where young men and women can create content for use in TikTok and snap chat to earn a living,” The East African quoted Ichung’wa.