Board to Consider How Meta Should Respect Political Expression in Kenya
June 3, 2025
Today, the Board is announcing a new case for consideration. As part of this, we invite people and organizations to submit public comments by using the button below.
Case Selection
As we cannot hear every appeal, the Board prioritizes cases that have the potential to affect lots of users around the world, are of critical importance to public discourse or raise important questions about Meta’s policies.
The case that we are announcing today is:
Comment on Kenyan Politics Using a Designated Slur
2025-023-FB-UA
User appeal to restore content
Submit a public comment using the button below
In February 2025, a Facebook user commented on a post discussing former Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s candidacy in the election for the African Union’s Chairperson. Both posts are largely in English, with some words in Swahili.
The Facebook post contains a photograph of Rigathi Gachagua, former Deputy President of Kenya (2022–2024), with text overlay quoting Gachagua’s support for Odinga and noting why his success in the election would be good for the African continent. The caption claims that Gachagua, who is from the Kikuyu ethnic group, was endorsing Odinga, who is from the Luo ethnic group, to please Odinga’s Luo constituency and increase his own popularity for domestic political gain. The caption suggests Luo people are gullible and would vote for anyone that benefits Odinga, including politicians from other ethnic groups allegedly responsible for the violence committed against the Luo people in the past.
The user’s comment on the post mocks the reaction to Gachagua’s statement and dismisses its explanation as meant for “tugeges,” referring to Gachagua’s Kikuyu supporters. The comment argues Gachagua’s endorsement is for an external rather than a Kenyan audience.
Meta removed the user’s comment for violating the Hateful Conduct Community Standard, and left up the post the user had commented on. Meta designated the term “tugeges,” a prohibited slur under this policy in January 2024, following the term gaining traction in the 2022 presidential elections. Meta translates “tugeges” to mean “retarded Kikuyu,” noting it is the plural form of “kagege,” which is a Kikuyu term to describe “a person who is extremely confused to the point of gaping vacantly at the world.” Meta notes the term stems from the word “gega,” which means to “stare in puzzlement.”
Under the Hateful Conduct Community Standard, Meta removes content that “describes or negatively targets people with slurs.” Meta defines slurs as “words that inherently create an atmosphere of exclusion and intimidation against people on the basis of a protected characteristic, often because these words are tied to historical discrimination, oppression and violence.” The policy has an exception for when content uses slurs to condemn hate speech, report on it, reclaim it or when used self-referentially.
Meta’s automated systems detected the use of a slur in the content and determined it was violating, resulting in the removal of the comment and a standard strike to the account of the commenting user. The user appealed Meta's decision to remove their comment. A human reviewer confirmed the content was violating, so it was not restored.
The user who posted the comment then appealed to the Oversight Board. In their statement to the Board, the user stated they did not insult, threaten or use abusive language in the comment. They were just replying to the post “in a civil way” and made a simple political comment.
The Board selected this case to examine Meta’s respect for political expression in countries with a recent history of intercommunal violence. This case falls within the Board’s Hate Speech Against Marginalized Groups priority.
The Board would appreciate public comments that address:
- The meaning of the term “tugeges” and its contemporary use in Kenyan politics and society, including evidence of its connection to harms or lack thereof.
- The political context in Kenya, including the situation for freedom of expression online and risks related to incitement of intercommunal violence.
- How ethnicity is discussed in relation to current affairs in Kenya, and the prevalence of contested or potentially insulting language or generalizations in everyday discourse.
- How reliance on automated enforcement of Meta’s Hateful Conduct policy impacts human rights, including freedom of expression, especially in countries with a recent history of intercommunal violence.
As part of its decisions, the Board can issue policy recommendations to Meta. While recommendations are not binding, Meta must respond to them within 60 days. As such, the Board welcomes public comments proposing recommendations that are relevant to this case.
Public Comments
If you or your organization feel you can contribute valuable perspectives that can help with reaching a decision on the case announced today, you can submit your contributions using the button below. Please note that public comments can be provided anonymously. The public comment window is open for 14 days, closing at 23.59 Pacific Standard Time (PST) on Tuesday 17 June.
What’s Next
Over the next few weeks, Board Members will be deliberating this case. Once they have reached their decision, we will post it on the Decisions page.
