ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how new media technologies were used to hijack democracy in the 2017 elections in Kenya and manufacture consent on presidential election outcome through the use of fake news and government propaganda both online and through mainstream media. In March 2018, executives of UK-based political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica were taped saying that they ran “just about every element” of controversial President Uhuru Kenyatta’s campaign in 2013 and 2017, including rebranding his party twice, and writing the campaign’s manifesto and speeches. It provides examples of the sort of high-production, organized fake news campaigns Kenyatta’s campaign ran, particularly on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and WhatsApp, which helped sway the Kenyan public into rejecting presidential candidate Raila Odinga and voting for Kenyatta. It also explores how Kenyatta’s government was able to corral the Kenyan media into obedience with a series of measures of flak.
