Children Online Safety on Citizen TV

On Monday 16th September 2019, Kenyans online went on a divided public outrage reacting to a strong worded video by a 12-year old uttering absolute obscenities on his Instagram account about a classmate who called them gay. Soon after they released another video giving a public apology, but the following day together with their cousin they released a worse video than the first one.

The same week I got a call from Citizen TV asking if I could join the morning show, Day Break, to discuss children’s online safety in light of that viral video. I accepted because our work at Kids Comp Camp is right at the center of this “new” reality and a while back I wrote about online child protection on London School of Economics’ Parenting for a Digital Future blog. I was so excited to expand my knowledge on this dear subject as well as to engage and learn how to better help kids growing up in the digital era and their parents/guardians — both in the present and future.

As I prepared for the session, a few questions and concerns crossed my mind:

1. Was any law broken (because I saw people asking for police intervention)? Do we have any applicable laws to address such incidents?
2. I also saw people say that Instagram account belonging to the minor should be shut down ASAP. I wondered, what are the threshold requirements and procedures to bring down a social media account?

The early morning TV discussion on protecting children online went well. The panel included two students, psychologists, a teacher, an online safety trainer and yours truly. The entire discussion is now available on YouTube.

The discussion brought to my attention these important questions

1. Who is to blame (ie. take responsibility) for such an incident?
2. Apart from this incident. Is cyber bullying a serious and important thing in the Kenyan context? What reliable data and evidence do we have to support it?
3. Are our kids safe online, especially when they are targeted? How and where can they find help?

Who is to blame?

A recent research said parents now spend twice as much time with their children as 50 years ago. However, with the increasing number of such incidents, it is high time we questioned what the quality of time we spend with our children is. Are we parenting while getting distracted by screen time? Research shows extended screen time both by the child and parent has a negative impact on the parent-child relationship. It has negative social, emotional and mental effects; as well as neuro-biological effects on children’s developing brain and addiction.

To the parents and guardians, there is a clear difference between parenting and just letting children grow.

The primary role of a parent is to care, support and guide a child from infancy to adulthood. The primary caregiver of a child should be their parent(s). The primary school of a child is at home. This does not mean that the parent will always be 100% responsible for their children’s outcomes but the parenting responsibility squarely lies on their shoulders and so is the blame.

Is cyber-bullying a thing in Kenya?

Apart from this one incident, how serious, important, and urgent is cyber bullying in Kenya?

Before responding, maybe I should step back a bit and explain what cyber bullying is. Cyber-bullying can be defined as willful and repeated harassment and harm done by the use of phones, computers, the internet, and other electronic devices. This may include sending harassing messages/chats, posting derogatory comments on social media timelines and posting humiliating photos/messages intended to threaten, intimidate, or expose someone through electronic media.

This is the point to note the close relationship between cyber bullying and data privacy.

Many a time, Cyber-bullying involves infringing others cyber space. For example sharing unsolicited messages and comments with intention to harm or harass. And that is why data privacy and regulation is critical in this day and age.

What are the most common incidents of cyber bullying that have been witnessed among our children and teenagers in Kenya?

1. Trolling. An internet troll is a person who annoys, upsets or quarrels people on the internet by posting messages with the intention of provoking others to react angrily or be distracted. Side note: there’s a famous internet meme that says ‘this why we can’t have nice things online’. Meaning trolling is the obstacle to a kinder, gentler Internet.
2. Body Shaming. This is an easy target among teenagers if and when they want to retaliate against their peers. Recently we have seen increasing online public figures being targeted. I guess, as they always do, the kids are learning from us pretty fast.
3. Screen-shot Ninjas. It started with adults taking screenshots of social media conversations and sharing them with intent to shame, expose, and harass other people. It is now growing fast among teenagers.
4. Sexting. This is sharing messages which include nude or degrading photos. Sometimes this may be caused by the inability to control content coming into a device especially on WhatsApp groups. A recent public divorce case had bits and pieces of this.

What is the impact of cyber bullying?

Research shows cyber-bullying negative impact has three levels — the perpetrator, the targets and the witnesses. Perpetrators of cyber bullying are more likely to report increased substance use, aggression, and delinquent behaviors. The kids and teens who are targeted by cyber bullying report increased depressive affect, anxiety, loneliness, suicidal behavior, and somatic symptoms. The kids and teens who witness cyber bullying are more likely to feel okay and allow it and be exposed to the same effects as the perpetrators and the targeted. Parents, with the same energy and caution with which you watch over your kids you should monitor the environments they engage in. Cyber bullying happens to hurt us all and even more now that the walls, doors and “Mbwa Kali” have been broken by the Internet.

Many a times we focus on the perpetrators and forget the targeted and the audience.

Unfortunately I have not come across updated and credible data on cyber bullying cases apart from the isolated incidents which have grabbed the media’s attention and limited parent’s feedback. If you have any, I would love to check them out. Please get in touch.

What laws do we have to protect our children online?

Legally speaking no cyber law was broken by the above incident. Unless the case is framed to reflect the threats issued on the video. The cyber laws we have a rather general and making of laws to specifically deal with cyber threats seems not to catch up with technology and innovation. The Ministry of ICT has been at advanced stages (for quite a while) developing a Data Protection and Privacy Bill to safeguard Kenyan consumers’ personal data including children. Currently, we are survive on The Kenya Information and Communications Act that gives mandate to the Communications Authority to ensure all consumers, including children, are protected from indecent exposure. The much publicized Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act, 2018 has since been suspended.

The most effective laws we have to protect our children online apply to both offline and online. They include The Children’s Act which protects children from exposure to suggestive content, sexual content and abuse; as well as grants them the right to privacy that is subject to parental guidance.

Parents and guardians, please note that you will be held accountable by the law if a child under your custody is exposed to indecent content.

Next knock on your door could be DCI officers tracking a device with harmful content to the kids in your house. Be watchful about what kids and teens in your care are watching.

The other law is the Sexual Offences Act which prohibits child sex tourism, prostitution and pornography — online and offline.

In conclusion

To most parents cyber bullying is uncharted waters. This year September, Google turned 21. The internet is only 24 years old in Kenya since it landed here in September 1995. Back then the entire country shared 32 Kbps on store and forward technology. Most parents are on a learning curve and this is okay if you bear in mind that parenting is like a window — no sooner does it open than it closes. Kids grow too fast and so we need to learn fast enough to keep up with them.

As Kids Comp Camp we believe the most impactful way to ensure safety of children and teenagers online is by empowering the primary caregivers; Parents and Guardians. To this end we’re putting together a hands-on and enlightening training to help parents, guardians, teachers, older brothers and sisters, cousins, (name anyone with kids under care) to guide and guard children online. Would you be interested in taking a Parents’ Children’s Online Safety Training?