Overview

This baseline report, produced by a multinational consortium of non-profit human rights-defending organisations spearheading the TrustLab, provides an initial overview of the current information environment in Kenya.

The report aims to help civic watchdogs and development planners to better understand and respond to threats shaping the digital landscape. The research uses the best available forensic open source intelligence (OSINT) resources and draws extensively on the insights of in-country experts, but should be viewed as an initial starting point for more substantive, deep research into the fast-evolving regional digital ecosystem.

This report includes:

• An analysis of how digital news and opinion-shaping content is consumed across web and social media platforms.

• A study of the open and dark web’s use by extremist groups, ordinary citizens.

• Insights into media freedoms in Kenya, and how they can be manipulated by business interests and political actors.

It also aims to map both national and county-level contexts, laying the groundwork for future, more detailed research into Kenya’s evolving digital landscape.