Social media app TikTok is the leading disseminator of misinformation and disinformation in Kenya, according to a new report.
The latest Reuters Institute Digital News Report—which had already ranked Kenya as the world’s top TikTok user in its 2023 edition—now identifies the app as the primary platform for the spread of fake news in the country.
The 2023 report showed that Kenya accounts for 54 percent of all TikTok usage and 29 percent of usage for news purposes. Thailand and South Africa came in second and third, respectively.
Kenya has a significant number of TikTok users estimated to exceed 10 million by 2024. This makes it a major platform for communication, creativity and commerce within the country.
Kenyan content creators and businesses use TikTok to reach a large audience and its popularity rivals that of other leading social media platforms such as WhatsApp and Facebook.
However, in the newly published Digital News Report 2025, TikTok was flagged as the main channel for spreading misinformation in Kenya.
The report's data is based on an online survey of mainly English-speaking news consumers in Kenya who represent a subset of a larger, more diverse media market.
The respondents were generally younger, more affluent users between the ages of 18 and 50, with higher levels of formal education and more likely to live in cities compared to the overall Kenyan population.
Fifty-five percent of surveyed Kenyans cited TikTok which is already grappling with bad publicity in recent years as a major source of misinformation and disinformation in the country.
An Indian mobile phone user browses through Tik Tok in Bangalore on June 30, 2020.
Photo credit: File | AFP
“When it comes to networks through which misleading or false information might be spread, TikTok and Facebook are seen as creating the biggest threat,” the report stated.
Other social media platforms such as WhatsApp are considered less threatening because discussions tend to be more contained within trusted groups of friends.
According to the report, TikTok has overtaken long-established platforms in this regard.
The report also identified the country's top digital influencers as individuals who lead the dissemination of inaccurate or false information.
The Reuters report warns that as Kenya prepares for the 2027 General Elections, digital news consumption is expected to rise alongside trends in misinformation.
“While digital platforms have democratised information and challenged traditional gatekeepers, the financial viability of quality journalism remains in question. The future of Kenya’s media landscape will be defined by its ability to navigate these pressures,” it states.
In June 2022, ahead of the August General Election, a Mozilla Foundation report found that hate speech and disinformation circulated more widely on TikTok than on any other social media app during the lead-up to the polls.
“Even videos that appear to violate TikTok's policies seem to have been amplified by the algorithms that underpin the platform's main 'For You' page (recommendation feed),” stated the report, which analysed more than 130 videos that collectively had over four million views at the time.
In April this year, President William Ruto expressed his frustration, stating that the growing trend of fake news threatens national security.
An Indian mobile user browses through the Chinese owned video-sharing 'Tik Tok' app on a smartphone in Bangalore on June 30, 2020. PHOTO | MANJUNATH KIRAN | AFP
“False narratives, fabricated claims, and cynical distortions corrode the truth, distort public discourse, and erode democratic institutions. When weaponised, social media platforms become a breeding ground for hate, incitement, radicalization, and insecurity,” the president stated, indicating that the government was responding to the threat by implementing robust measures.
