Kenyan authorities funded a network of online trolls to threaten and intimidate young protesters during recent anti-government demonstrations, Amnesty International said in a new report.
The human rights group said state agencies also relied on surveillance and coordinated disinformation campaigns to target organisers of the mass protests, which swept Kenya in 2024 and 2025 and were driven largely by “Gen Z” activists using social media to mobilise.
Kenya’s Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen said the government “does not sanction harassment or violence against any citizen” and that any officer implicated in unlawful conduct would be held individually responsible and investigated.
But Amnesty said its findings revealed a deliberate effort to “silence and suppress” protesters, with young women and LGBT+ activists disproportionately singled out through misogynistic and homophobic abuse, as well as AI-generated pornographic images.
One activist told Amnesty: “I had people coming into my inbox and telling me: ‘You will die and leave your kids. We will come and attack you.’ I even had to change my child’s school. Someone sent me my child’s name, the age… the school bus number plate. They told me: ‘If you continue doing what you’re doing then we will take care of this child for you.’”
It has long been widely believed that the state deploys so-called “keyboard warriors” to promote official narratives online.
The report includes testimony from a man who said he was part of a team paid between 25,000 and 50,000 Kenyan shillings (about $190–$390; £145–£300) per day to amplify government messaging and drown out protest-related hashtags on social media platform X.
As part of its research, Amnesty interviewed 31 young human rights defenders who took part in the demonstrations. Nine said they had received violent threats on platforms including X, TikTok, Facebook and WhatsApp.
Beyond digital harassment, Kenyan authorities are also accused of overseeing a brutal on-the-ground crackdown. Rights groups say more than 100 people were killed when police clashed with protesters during two waves of demonstrations, in 2024 and 2025.
Officials have faced allegations of arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances and the unlawful use of lethal force. The government has acknowledged some cases of excessive force but has also defended security forces in other incidents.
The protests were driven by anger over proposed tax hikes, rising femicide and entrenched corruption.
Amnesty Secretary General Agnès Callamard said the report “clearly demonstrates widespread and coordinated tactics on digital platforms to silence and suppress protests by young activists”.
“Our research also proves that these campaigns are driven by state-sponsored trolls, individuals and networks paid to promote pro-government messages and dominate Kenya’s daily trends on X,” she said.
The organisation also voiced concern over alleged unlawful state surveillance, including claims that authorities used mobile phone data to monitor protest leaders — accusations denied by Kenya’s largest telecoms provider, Safaricom.