Facebook, TikTok and Other Platforms Face Ksh500 Million Fines Under New Bill

Social media giants and digital service providers operating in Kenya could soon face sweeping penalties of up to Ksh.500 million if they fail to shield minors from harmful digital content.

Under the newly introduced Online Safety Bill 2026, sponsored by Embakasi West MP Mark Mwenje, tech companies must institute strict safeguards to protect users under the age of 18 from illegal online material. The legislation also equips the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) with robust enforcement powers to track compliance and penalize non-compliant platforms.

Parental Consent and Age Verification Mandates

A cornerstone of the proposed law is its focus on parental oversight and age verification. The legislation mandates that children under 18 secure explicit parental approval before creating accounts or accessing social media services. Furthermore, parents retain the legal right to revoke this approval at any point, forcing platforms to cut off the child’s access within a designated timeframe.

“A parent or a person who exercises parental responsibility shall be responsible for giving or withholding consent to the access to, or use of, a regulated service by a child, having regard to the age, maturity and best interests of the child,” the Bill states.

To enforce these boundaries, tech platforms must deploy robust age-verification or age-estimation systems. Providers must also verify that the person granting permission actually holds legal parental authority over the minor.

Stiff Fines and Executive Liability

If the Communications Authority of Kenya suspects a platform of ignoring these statutory duties, it can issue a formal compliance notice outlining specific violations and remediation timelines.

“A compliance notice shall specify the provision of this Act alleged to have been breached, the facts constituting the breach, the measures required to remedy the breach, and the period within which the measures shall be implemented,” the Bill reads in part.

Failure to uphold this basic duty of care carries heavy financial and legal consequences. Platforms that violate the rules face fines reaching up to Ksh. 500 million, or 10 percent of their global annual turnover, whichever sum is higher.

The legislation goes even further by holding corporate leadership directly accountable for systemic failures.

“Where an offence under this section is committed with the consent or connivance of, or is attributable to any gross negligence on the part of, a senior executive officer of the provider, that officer commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding ten million shillings or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years, or to both,” the Bill states.

The scope of the Bill explicitly targets illegal content and online threats covered under Kenya’s Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act, the Prevention of Terrorism Act, and severe offenses involving child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

As Parliament reviews the proposal, tech providers targeting Kenyan users will need to re-evaluate their onboarding workflows, content moderation systems, and user data protections to meet these proposed standards.

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