Two main issues stand out for me in regard to this.
1. Is there a relation between attempts at banning TikTok in Kenya with similar onslaught against TikTok in the US?
Is this an attempt by US(state and corporations) to protect its global hegemony in social media platforms dominance by exporting its mainland biases to its colonies?
Are we seeing the same backers of anti-LGBTQ and their pretentious cover of protecting family values being applied to fight tiktok?
2. Who ought to stand in the gap, who has the resources to resist government(in this case legislature) excesses against digital freedoms, who(presumably CSO) can represent our collective agency against this?
If this banning attempts can be done against TikTok, what will stop an extension of the same logic to be waged against Facebook or twitter and essentially setting precedence for future attempts at internet/social media shutdowns?
But also acknowledging the threat against FB and twitter is not the same as for tiktok because they are US corporations.
Gibson Maina
Mathare Infotech Lab