Summary

The changing nature of election campaigns in Kenya over the years fuelled an investigation as to how data driven campaigns have been utilised by political parties to reach the electorate. Technological advancements have made political actors to utilise online communication to reach voters through social media platforms such as Facebook and even Twitter. The rise of these social media platforms and the existence of big data have also contributed to the practice of political microtargeting. The purpose of the report was to find out the extent of political microtargeting in the 2022 Kenyan general election campaigns, to analyse the laws applicable to microtargeting in Kenya together with their existing shortcomings and to find out how external policy initiatives can inform Kenya’s regulatory approach on political microtargeting.

The methodology used involved the collection of data through desktop research, doctrinal research which was useful in analysing existing Kenyan laws and comparative research which was used in assessing policy initiatives from other countries and making appropriate recommendations. The investigation also involved data collection that focused on paid Facebook advertisements for political candidates that took part in the 2022 presidential and gubernatorial elections held in each of the 47 counties in Kenya.

The findings from the report indicate that:

• The data collected showed that political microtargeting took place in the 2022 general elections to a certain extent.
• There are laws in Kenya which are applicable to the regulation of political microtargeting.
• External policy initiatives will play a fundamental role in informing Kenya’s regulatory approach to political microtargeting.

The full report contains the detailed analysis of the study that was conducted and the findings that were obtained.