According to the newly released Disrupting Harm research, internet-based sexual exploitation of minors in Kenya has been proven to be more prevalent on Facebook than on any other website, making the social media giant’s platform extremely risky for children.
An Interpol, UNICEF, and End Violence Against Children investigation indicated that Facebook accounted for more than 90 percent of all occurrences of online sexual exploitation and abuse involving kids in Kenya last year. There were interviews with minors, parents, policing agencies, as well as legal representatives involved in the report’s preparation.
Facebook was not the only medium where child sex abuse images and films were “possessed, fabricated, and distributed”. However, NCMEC’s data confirms Facebook reported almost 20 million child sex abuse photographs every year, 37 times more than Google, which ranked second. Meanwhile, Instagram’s parent company Meta was planning to establish Instagram Kids for youngsters under the age of 13 years old.
The NCMEC’s CyberTipline findings show an increase of six percentage points in online child sexual abuse in Kenya. The CyberTipline is a centralized reporting system for minor sexual exploitation. Kenya is the only East African country directly linked to NCMEC’s reporting system via the DCI’s Anti-Human Trafficking & Child Protection Unit and Interpol’s International Child Sexual Exploitation Database.
“The most prevalent social media and messaging apps used to target youngsters were WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. This is presumably because Facebook and WhatsApp are the two most popular social media platforms in Kenya, a landscape report confirms. More than three-quarters of Kenyans now have internet connection, making services like Facebook and WhatsApp readily available.
More than half of the victims contacted for the research stated the request for sexual materials was made online rather than in person. The study found that both girls and boys aged 12 to 17 were at risk of online sexual exploitation.
The criminals utilized presents or money (sexual extortion) to persuade the kids to meet with them or exchange images or recordings. The offers were often made over “Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and YouTube”. Some suggested Instagram and ByteDance’s TikTok. Others were coerced or threatened into uttering obscenities.
An international law enforcement agency discovered commercial livestreaming of child sexual abuse in Kenya, according to the report. Images and films depicting sexual behavior with and between teenagers, children, and babies were sought by sex offenders in the country according to Google search patterns. International child sex offenders have been reported to Kenya, according to security agency reports.
There was also a lot of online grooming of youngsters for sexual motives, with no intention of meeting or assaulting them physically. As with livestreaming, this is an OCSEA that is not currently a crime in Kenya. It is illegal to expose a kid to sexualized content without a warrant under the Computer Misuse Act, and child pornography is illegal under the Sexual Offenses Act.
Due to the nature of these crimes, Kenya works closely with international and local authorities to seek down and arrest offenders. The DCI AHTCPU also works with Kenya’s communications authority to inform the public about these offenses and promote reporting.
The DCI AHTCPU has teamed with other national and international strategic partners to help battle OCSEA. When it comes to cross-border OCSEA, we use Interpol,” according to Mueni Mutisya, AHTCPU in-charge.
She added that to seek justice for victims of online abuse and to pursue criminals, we work closely with the British High Commission’s International Liaison Officer and the FBI’s legal attaché at the US Embassy in Nairobi. On top of that, we do public outreach and school visits.
