NCIC struggles with hate speech on social media due to technical and budgetary constraints
National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) Chairman Dr. Rev. Samuel Kobia during an interview at his office at Britam Towers in Nairobi on September 26, 2023.
The National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) has admitted to challenges in combating hate speech on social media, mainly due to inadequate technological resources and budgetary constraints.
The revelations came during a meeting with the National Assembly's Portfolio Committee on Administration and Internal Security, where NCIC Chairman Samuel Kobia and other commissioners discussed the difficulties the commission has faced in dealing with hate speech, particularly during the recent protests.
Dr Kobia highlighted that the Commission's current technological capabilities are insufficient to track and address hate speech on social media platforms.
The recent nationwide protests led by the Gen Z generation saw a flood of hashtags and messages on platforms such as X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok, overwhelming the Commission's ability to filter out harmful content.
"During the recent Gen Z protests, the hashtags and messages on X and TikTok were coming in by the millions, and our commission lacks the technological tools to isolate and address individual instances of hate speech," he told the committee chaired by Saku MP Dido Rasso on Tuesday, August 6.
The admission paints a worrying picture of a commission struggling to cope with the evolving landscape of online hate speech.
Dr Kobia noted that rapid advances in technology have created a new frontier for hate speech, exacerbated by anonymity and false identities used online.
“Hate speech has found new ground in social media, with the added challenge of anonymity and pseudonyms used to spread harmful content,” Dr Kobia said.
The Chairperson explained that the lack of advanced technological capacity hampers the Commission's ability to conduct thorough analysis and mapping of social networks to effectively combat online hate speech.
Despite these challenges, he said the NCIC has established cooperation agreements with major international social media companies, including Facebook and X.
These partnerships have improved the commission's ability to report and remove harmful content more efficiently.
“This collaboration has significantly enhanced our ability to report, process, and respond to incidents of hate speech and ethnic contempt,” Kobia added.
However, he stressed that the commission needs further financial support to adequately fulfil its mandate, which has become more demanding with the rise of youth-led protests and a devolved system of government.
The parliamentary committee has now called for improved technological resources to strengthen NCIC's ability to tackle hate speech.
A recent NCIC report highlighted TikTok as the leading platform for hate speech, with Facebook, X and WhatsApp also identified as major sources.
"With the rise in hate speech cases on TikTok and other social media platforms, the lack of technological capacity for comprehensive data analysis and scraping has been a significant challenge. This limitation prevents a thorough understanding of the social networks responsible for the hate speech,” said the report recently commissioned by the NCIC.
The NCIC has also struggled to obtain data to track how messages spread, particularly within WhatsApp groups.
While social media platforms have been useful for disseminating information, they have also been used to weaponise satire and amplify hate speech through shaming and derogatory posts.
Some of the flagged content on the social media sites is still online despite reports being made.
