Video-sharing platform TikTok removed more than 820,000 videos in Kenya between October and December 2025, marking a significant rise from the previous quarter as the company ramped up automated moderation systems.
According to the platform, the videos were taken down for breaching its Community Guidelines, with the overwhelming majority flagged proactively before being reported by users.
More than 98% of the content was removed within 24 hours of being uploaded, underscoring TikTok’s growing dependence on automated detection tools instead of user-led reporting mechanisms.
The fourth-quarter removals represented a sharp jump from the previous quarter, when the platform deleted slightly over 580,000 videos in Kenya.
Account enforcement also accelerated during the period, with TikTok banning 108,752 accounts in Kenya. The company said most suspensions involved suspected users below the minimum age requirement of 13 years.
Globally, the platform removed approximately 175.3 million videos during the quarter, equivalent to around 0.5% of all uploaded content. More than 152 million of those videos were detected through automated systems, although roughly 8.36 million were later restored after additional review.
TikTok’s Community Guidelines prohibit content involving violence, hate speech, sexual exploitation, harassment, graphic material, and dangerous online challenges. The rules also target misinformation, election manipulation, deceptive practices, and misleading AI-generated content.
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The heightened moderation efforts come amid growing calls in Kenya for stricter oversight of the platform rather than a complete ban. Legislators responding to public concerns over explicit content, child protection, and national security have argued that banning the app outright would undermine digital freedoms and disrupt a platform that has become deeply woven into Kenya’s creative and advertising industries.
Parliament has instead endorsed a regulatory framework that would spread oversight responsibilities across government ministries and the data protection authority, signalling a preference for tighter supervision rather than prohibition.
Under the proposed approach, Kenyan authorities are expected to scrutinise TikTok’s age-verification systems, data management practices, and moderation processes.
Lawmakers also raised concerns in a parliamentary report over weaknesses in AI moderation systems, with submissions suggesting that substantial amounts of vernacular and local dialect content may bypass automated detection tools.
