Kenya Government Orders TikTok To Remove Minors Sexual Content After BBC Expose

The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) directed TikTok to remove all sexual content involving minors on its platform after a BBC expose.

In the expose on March 3, 2025 titled 'TikTok profiting from sexual livestreams involving children', BBC investigation exposed disturbing cases of child exploitation through the platform livestreams in the country.

According to the claims of a lawsuit brought by the US state of Utah last year, TikTok has long been aware of child exploitation in its livestreams . 'TikTok did its own internal investigation in 2022 - but ignored the issue because it "profited significantly" from them,'

Among the discovery was TikTok is still taking about a 70% cut from livestream gifts. The company denied it took such a large commission after BBC established the same cut in a 2022 investigation.

A content moderator for Teleperformance says moderation is limited by TikTok's increasing reliance on artificial intelligence (AI), which is not sensitive enough to pick up on local sexual slang.

CA Director General David Mugonyi condemned the violations, stating that they contravene both Kenyan and international laws on child protection and online safety.

"In response to this report by the BBC, we are directing TikTok to actively pull down all sexual content involving minors on their platform including on livestreams,"

Additionally, TikTok has been ordered to explain how such harmful content bypasses its moderation systems and to present a concrete plan for strengthening its child protection measures.