Kenya’s government is asking parliament for KSh 2.7 billion ($21 million) to build an AI-powered system that can monitor what people are saying online. The proposal was presented yesterday, May 25, when the State Department for Broadcasting and Telecommunications appeared before the National Assembly’s ICT committee with a detailed budget request. The money would fund everything from AI-driven social media sentiment analysis software to a new National Communication Center, upgrades to Kenya News Agency offices, and day-to-day ministry operations. Officials say the plan is about fighting misinformation, disinformation, and what they’re now calling “malinformation.”
At the centre of the proposal is the planned National Communication Center, essentially a government command hub for coordinating messaging across ministries. Officials say it would help stop different departments from sending mixed signals and improve how the government communicates its work to the public. Alongside it would sit AI software designed to scan social media in real time, track public opinion, identify trending narratives, and flag content considered harmful or false. Critics say that’s where the red flags start. While the government frames the tools as necessary for information management, the same technology could easily be used for political surveillance depending on who controls it and how it’s regulated.
The timing of the proposal is hard to ignore. Just last week, Kenya gave X a 90-day ultimatum to open a local office. Earlier this month, the proposed Statistics Bill 2026 sought broader government data collection powers, while the Finance Bill 2026 introduced measures around crypto wallet disclosure and mandatory platform reporting. Taken together, the moves suggest the government is steadily building a much larger digital oversight system, one that stretches from social media monitoring to financial data and online platforms. Earlier this year, the government also set aside KSh 100 million to pay online influencers to promote official messaging.
Much of this traces back to the 2024 Finance Bill protests, when young Kenyans used X and TikTok to livestream demonstrations and police actions, helping force the government into a major policy reversal. After courts later ruled the government could not block social media platforms, officials appear to have shifted strategy. Instead of shutting platforms down, the focus now seems to be on monitoring conversations, tracking narratives, and responding to them in real time. Kenya has tried versions of this before, from the failed 2019 Social Media Bill to controversial cybercrime regulations proposed in 2024, but this latest push is by far the most technologically ambitious.
Kenya isn’t alone in this trend. Governments across Africa and beyond are increasingly investing in AI-powered monitoring systems to track digital conversations and public sentiment. What makes Kenya different is that it also has one of the continent’s strongest digital rights communities, active courts, and a vocal online population that has repeatedly challenged state power online. That tension is likely to define the debate ahead. Parliament’s Budget and Appropriations Committee will decide whether the money gets approved, but civil society groups are already preparing for what could become Kenya’s biggest digital rights fight since the 2024 protests.
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