National Cohesion and Integration Commission NCIC, has now called for a consultative meeting with Facebook, the Communications Authority, and the ministry of ICT and Interior on Monday, August 1.

This is according to NCIC Chairman Rev, Dr Samuel Kobia.

This is after the commission on Friday issued a seven-day ultimatum to Facebook to clean up hate speech on its platform or the commission recommend its suspension for its failure to comply with the Kenya Laws. 

Rev Kobia while speaking in Nakuru on Saturday during a peace concert said the Commission has had interactions with Facebook where they have raised concern over incidences of hate speech being posted on the platform.

However, Information Communication and Technology (ICT) Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru and his interior counterpart Fred Matiang'i said that the ministries had no intentions to suspend Facebook.

The commission said a consultative meeting is necessary to reach a consensus.

"The NCIC has met with representatives of Facebook and other social media platforms. But from April we have had engagements with Facebook and we have told them to comply with Kenya's Laws," Kobia said.

He added that Facebook is the major concern to the commission since hate speech posts have been posted on the platform with no action taken

"We asked them to pull down hate speech materials failure to do that we would recommend for its suspension."

He also noted that Kenya has over 11 million people who are on Facebook. It therefore a very powerful tool that can cause problems if used badly.

"We have therefore invited Facebook, Communications Authority of Kenya, the ministries of ICT and that of Interior so that we can talk and agree on the way forward," he said.

This comes as a report by UK-based legal activist firm Foxglove Global which tested Facebook’s ability to detect hate speech ahead of the Kenyan elections.

Sourcing ten real-life examples of hate speech used in Kenya since 2007 and submitting them for approval.

In total, they submitted twenty ads to Facebook which covered the ten real-life hate speech examples and their corresponding translation in English or Swahili.

By conducting the investigation in Kenya, Global Witness was able to legitimately test for the first time whether Facebook might be better at detecting English language hate speech over Swahili, given these are the two official languages of the country.

All the ads (with hate speech) were approved.

Rev Kobia also addressed the war of words between President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto saying they need to show responsibility in their actions.

He noted that the country is looking up to the two leaders for peaceful elections and therefore they should be at the forefront of providing leadership.  by JAMES MUNYUA. The Star