TikTok on Wednesday announced a Kes 229 million fund to power Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Kenya as the Creative Economy and Sports Week kicked off at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC).
Kenya has in the meantime, announced that it will not ban TikTok after the social media giant applied stricter rules.
Youth Affairs, Arts and Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba says this followed a meeting between TikTok and President William Ruto.
A petitioner who first demanded that TikTok be banned from the nation in August over objectionable content has since softened and is now requesting that the app be made more widely used under stringent guidelines.
Following requests from many stakeholders questioning the App's usage, Bob Ndolo, the Executive Director General of Bridge Consultancy, changed the petition to focus on regulation during his appearance before the National Assembly Public Petition.
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The petition was launched a few days after President Ruto and TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew discussed moderating strategies to lessen offensive content on the video-sharing platform.
“We have getting a lot of calls from tiktokers and that’s the reason why we wanted change to push for the regulations of the App to protect national security and protect the youth from inappropriate content,” Ndolo stated.
Ndolo emphasized that they were not coerced to amend their earlier petition pushing for the ban on Tiktok following President Ruto’s meeting with Tiktok management that promised to moderate the content on the global App.
“We are privy to the discussion between the President and Tiktok CEO but we became aware through the media.We were not involved in anyway,we have only had a meeting with Tiktok management from South Africa.We haven’t received any call from statehouse,”
