A petitioner has called on MPs to ban the use of TikTok claiming it is a contributor to erosion of cultural and religious morals in the society.
The Executive Officer of Bridget Connect Consultancy Bob Ndolo in a petition to the National Assembly on Tuesday, called on MPs to move with speed and ban the use of TikTok in the country as it is exposing young people to explicit sexual content.
The petitioner expressed his disapproval saying that despite the social media application gaining popularity among the youth in the country, the content being shared on the platform is inappropriate thus promoting violence, explicit sexual content, hate speech, vulgar language, and offensive behaviors which is a serious threat to cultural and religious values.
Rise of TikTok
The social media application became the most popular app in 2019 and 2020 when it recorded close to 700 million downloads surpassing Instagram and Twitter.
While commenting on the petition, Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wa said Parliament cannot preside over the banning of the app since it has created employment to the majority of young people.
In addition Mr.Ichung’wa acknowledges that the petitioner has valid concerns, however his approach for total ban is a move to fighting technology.
“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,” Mr Ichung’wa said.
Nominated MP Irene Mayaka said the banning the usage of the app in Kenya would not solve the problems raised by the petitioner saying with applications such as the Virtual Private Network (VPN), one can still watch the contents in apps available in other countries.
She urged parents should to monitor what their children consume in social media.
The petition will be considered by the Public Petitions Committee which will give its verdict after 60 days.
