Kenya’s Communication Authority May ‘Block Internet’ During Elections

Kenya's Communication Authority, the body which regulates the communication sector, has warned that it could shut down the internet during the August 8 general elections to prevent violence.

Director General Francis Wangusi, said the state agency has acquired surveillance systems to monitor social media and mobile phones; adding that it has spent about five point seven million dollars on a social media monitoring system as well as three point six million dollars  on a device management system that will help closely monitor mobile phones and the activities around them.

The Communication Authority says the surveillance is meant to prevent the repeat of the 2007/2008 post-election violence in which 1,500 people were killed and 600,000 displaced.

He said an internet shutdown will only be used in the worst-case scenario.

SOURCE: BBC NEWS