This paper was written by Caleb Gichuhi in the book Disinformation: A Multidisciplinary Analysis. This case study analyzes how disinformation was used on social media to influence perceptions during Kenya’s 2022 general election, specifically examining disinformation tactics across three electoral phases; pre-election, during-election, and post-election. Data gathered from Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter reveal a persistent challenge: 60% of Kenyans encountered information they suspected to be deliberately false, mirroring trends in the 2017 general elections. However, 2022 saw a shift from external actors such as Cambridge Analytica to a domestic influencer industry, leveraging on almost double the social media user base from 2017.
Pre-election disinformation primarily focused on discrediting candidates, including gendered attacks, and fabricating election rigging narratives. As election day drew closer, tactics shifted to instilling fear in the public with false violence threats and falsely portraying opponents’ political rallies as violent. As voting and tallying began, the tactics turned to premature, unverified results being declared, coupled with baseless kidnapping and death claims to incite fear in the electorate. Election irregularities were further decontextualized, with accusations pointing to opponents and the electoral management body of rigging. While the post-election phase, arguably experienced an overall disinformation decrease, the losing alliance would continue to discredit the electoral process, arguing the involvement of foreign governments in election rigging in Kenya while the use of satirical and parodic false content was used to gloat at the losers.
This study highlights social media’s critical role in influencing Kenyan voters through dynamic, context-bound disinformation campaigns.