YVONNE’S TAKE: Tiktok and the social media police patrols

Just like everything else in the world, social media can be useful or dangerous. For many, TikTok has been become an alternative source of news, yet for others, it has become a platform to mobilise for anything, from the political to humanitarian causes.

But, it is not without its downsides. And that has prompted one man to call for a ban of the platform in Kenya. He has since toned that down to some regulations. Now, don’t get me wrong, what is good about a platform must be embraced and what does not work needs to be managed. My question however, is by whom?

Let me explain, the proposed new rules want the company to develop features to allow parents monitor and control their children’s use of the social media platform. Another proposal is that the platform be forced to work with local authorities to develop education campaigns to sensitise young people about responsible use of social media. Some other regulations include requiring the site to ensure that the content respects Kenyan cultural and religious values. Now, I have questions.

First off, do we have an established set of “Kenyan cultural and religious values”? Numbered 1 to 10? Further, in the digital era where the world is now a global village, are our children not global citizens exposed to varying cultures around the world? In any case, TikTok is a site on which users, Kenyans included, upload their content. So, if the content on there does not ascribe to the so-called Kenyan cultural and religious values, doesn’t that mean the Kenyans themselves do not ascribe to those values? Is that then Tikok’s problem?

Then let me come to the other proposals. And that is to have TikTok help parents regulate the time their children spend on the app. Is this really TikTok’s responsibility? In fact, is this really anyone else’s responsibility outside the home? I would imagine that every parent and every home has its own rules and values. Some parents give their children phone access at age 5, others will only allow their children to own a phone and access the internet and social media at age 15, yet others will only allow this once the children have attained voting rights. Indeed, access and time spent on social media is a personal, household decision. Not so?

Why would this responsibility be placed on an external entity? Some may ban one social media site altogether and allow another. Aren’t all these decisions a result of personal decisions a family makes, based on its value system and how they want to raise their children? You see, it would seem to me that we throw regulation, legislation at just about every problem that we encounter. We over legislate, over regulate and make it as descriptive and instructive as possible.

Take the whole country for instance; when we almost lost this country to post election violence, we attempted to legislate our national values. We called them national values and principles of governance. In there are lines such as human dignity, social justice, human rights. We basically legislated humanity. Because we are incapable of being human with another. Furthermore, we went ahead to legislate leadership and integrity. Basically, we put in law how to do the right thing.

And even then, look what we have done with Chapter 6, mutilated it, walked all over it, blurred the lines, argued with it, to the extent that it is not even worth the paper it is written on. And now, we are doing it again. Regulating how much time your children should spend on a social media app. Deciding for yourself and your family what is right and wrong? What to expose your children to? How much they should consume on social media? What your cultural and religious beliefs are?

Folks, we cannot throw a law or regulation at every challenge we face. We cannot surrender our agency to outside institutions. I am not saying that everything on social media is good, or bad. All I am saying is that laws are not necessarily the way to go.

Think about this way, if you have a rice farm and the biggest threat to your harvest is birds, do you deal with the pesky birds by closing the gate?