Event Summary
On 25 June 2025, the Director General of the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), ordered all television and radio stations not to broadcast live coverage of the protests happening nationwide to commemorate the anti-tax protests of 2024. The CA justified this order by indicating that live coverage would violate Article 33(2) and 34(1) of the Constitution of Kenya, as well as Section 461 of the Kenya Information and Communication Act of 1998, because it could incite violence. Non-compliance to this directive was threatened with license revocation or signal disabling. The broadcasting channels followed the directive, except for a few stations whom the CA and the police went into their premises to shut off the signals for these broadcasting companies.
A statement by civil society actors condemned this directive and warned of unconstitutional assault on media freedom. The High Court, on the same day, ordered restoration of broadcasting signals, taking the CA to task on its breach of Article 34. Following public outcry, the CA suspended the directive pending public pressure and court directive. This blackout happened against a backdrop of violent protests, which resulted in deaths, forced disappearances, rape, arrests, and many injuries, mostly due to police brutality, and human rights violations. At the very least, the impression is that the blackout was to obscure state-sanctioned violence.