Kenya: the telecommunications operator Safaricom is pressuring Nation Media Group due to its investigation into widespread surveillance
An investigation by the Nation, the country's largest newspaper, has provoked the ire of private telecommunications operator Safaricom. Between threatening SLAPP suits, requesting hearings, and suspending advertising contracts, Safaricom is doing everything in its power to make the newspaper’s parent company comply. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns this pressure and calls on the Kenyan authorities to protect investigative journalists.
Safaricom and the Nation Media Group (NMG) are facing a standoff. Following the publication on 29 October of an investigation that exposed Safaricom's involvement in widespread surveillance, the major Kenyan telecommunications operator is moving heaven and earth to cover up the revelations. For years, the company has given security agencies virtually unlimited access to customer data to track suspected criminals, violating the privacy rights of innocent users.
In a letter consulted by RSF, Safaricom began by threatening the press group and the journalists involved in the investigation with a SLAPP suit on 31 October if the article was not withdrawn and a correction published. A few days later, the private company decided to cut its advertising spending on the media platforms. With a budget of nearly 5 million dollars per month, Safaricom is one of the country's largest advertisers.
On 5 December, representatives of NMG attended a hearing at the Media Council of Kenya following a complaint lodged by Safaricom's lawyers. According to an editorial manager at the media company, the hearing was a “formality,” which simply “served to prepare the rest of the proceedings, which will resume in January 2025.”
The investigation carried out by the Nation Media Group is in the public interest, especially as it has enabled the general public to be informed of Safaricom's involvement in a state scandal. It is unacceptable that, ever since the report was published at the end of October, the telecommunications operator has continued scrambling to cover up the media's revelations, even though the journalists gave Safaricom the opportunity to comment on the case. NMG's investigative work must be protected at all costs. RSF condemns the pressure exerted by Safaricom and calls on the Kenyan authorities to protect investigative journalists and their important work.
Safaricom has continued to ramp up pressure on the NMG and its journalists. “If the Nation newspaper is no longer able to publish this type of investigation because it’s too hot for them, then there will be no one left to publish content like this,” fears Namir Shabibi, a freelance journalist and co-author of the investigation.
Safaricom is not limiting its offensive to direct attacks: the company is also threatening all organisations that have demanded accountability since the article was published. On 18 November, an intimidating letter was sent to the Kenyan Human Rights Commission (KHRC) following its open letter to Safaricom, published four days earlier, calling the operator to account.
Smear campaign and loss of advertising
Even more bizarrely, a smear campaign against NMG was launched on 6 November. A fake letter from the Media Council of Kenya accompanied by the hashtag #WhatsNMGHiding was published on X (formerly Twitter) by two accounts — that can be found here and here — claiming that investigations into the newspaper were underway. A statement by the Media Council of Kenya attesting to the false nature of the letter was published the same day and relayed by authorities.
At the beginning of November, Safaricom used a new tactic to defend itself: it published advertisements in two other newspapers, The Standard and The Star, reaffirming its commitment to protecting the privacy of its customers.
