TikTok is set to establish an office in Kenya in efforts aimed at easing its coordination of operations on the continent, the video sharing platform’s global CEO, Shou Zi Chew, has revealed.
A dispatch from State House on Thursday moments after President William Ruto held a virtual meeting with Chew stated that the latter had agreed to work with Kenya in reviewing and monitoring its content amid growing moral concerns about what is displayed on the app.
“In a virtual meeting with President Ruto on Thursday morning, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew committed to ensuring that content is moderated to fit community standards. This new development means that inappropriate or offensive content will be expunged from the platform,” said the State House communique.
“During the meeting, Mr Chew also agreed to set up a Kenyan office to co-ordinate its operations in the continent. He pledged to hire more Kenyans to work for the platform.”
Last week, Bridget Connect Consultancy CEO Bob Ndolo filed a petition in Kenya’s National Assembly seeking to engineer a total ban on the platform on the argument that the explicit content displayed works to promote social vices such as sexual violence, hate speech and vulgarity.
Legislators, however, threw out the plea and instead recommended regulation of usage as opposed to a complete ban.
