NAIROBI: A shocking new report from Amnesty International reveals that the Kenyan government used “digital repression” to hunt down protesters during the 2024–2025 Gen Z demonstrations.

The report, titled “This Fear, Everyone is Feeling It,” documents a grim toll linked to the anti-Finance Bill demonstrations: 128 killings, 83 enforced disappearances, and over 3,000 arbitrary arrests.

According to the human rights watchdog, authorities systematically deployed online harassment, disinformation, and unlawful surveillance to silence vocal youth.

Amnesty raises particular alarm over state surveillance, citing allegations that security agencies accessed personal phone data and location records, often without court orders, to track protesters.

The report further accuses social media platform X (formerly Twitter) of failing to curb coordinated hate speech and disinformation campaigns explicitly designed to target activists.

“Online harassment and smear campaigns became the core tools of the state to undermine the credibility of government critics,” said Victor Ndede, Amnesty International Kenya’s Head of Programmes.

“Some of these tactics facilitated and were later used in killings and enforced disappearances.”

Amnesty International Kenya Executive Director Irungu Houghton emphasized the scale of the violation.

“Massive intrusion of surveillance has taken place over the last one year,” Houghton stated. “Many of the cases we have discussed are related to serious crimes, including deaths, enforced disappearances, and extrajudicial killings.”