Inside Kenya’s political blogging business: Money, livestreams & political attacks

As Kenya inches closer to the 2027 General Election, the country has witnessed a sharp increase in the number of online news outlets, political blogs and social media pages that broadcast events live and amplify narratives far beyond the venues where they unfold.

From Facebook livestreams and TikTok videos to YouTube interviews and viral posts on X, politicians are turning to digital spaces to reach millions of Kenyans, counter their rivals, promote their achievements and shape public conversations.

However, questions are now emerging about the growing influence of these platforms, the credibility of the information they disseminate and the fine line between independent journalism and political messaging in light of the recent confession by a Kenyan who owns one of these platforms.

In an expose on how protests at Standard Media Group offices were organised and financed by political actors, with participants reportedly receiving thousands of shillings for their services, Citizen TV established that a conspicuous microphone branded KDN belonged to an online platform that was used to broadcast protest content.

“I have an audience that I have to cater for, what they want to hear, so I have to do what I have to do. My job inakuwanga on the go. You just tell me what you need na nakupea.” Phillip Toroitich, alias Toro, who is associated with the platform, told Citizen TV.

Fuelled by the fierce battle for political influence and financed by billions flowing from the pockets of politicians, bloggers have flooded digital spaces with online news outlets, political blogs and social media pages that broadcast events live, dissect political developments and amplify narratives far beyond the venues where they unfold emerging.

A blogger who requested to be identified as Joseph lifted the lid on the clandestine operation by bloggers bankrolled by a popular political operative.

“I own a platform that posts and livestreams political content, and I get paid for it. My speciality is in picking content that is favourable to the political side paying me and amplifying the same. Some of my videos are from third-party sources, while I directly source some from political forums such as Bunge La Wananchi and informal platforms,” he explained.

According to Joseph, coverage is biased with instructions received on who to attack, who to glorify, what narrative to push as was the case in a recent assignment he undertook.

Joseph claimed that he, alongside other bloggers were paid handsomely to use their platforms to vilify and attack a prominent female figure over a recent event that sparked a storm in the political space, stating that he was instructed to paint the leader as an entitled person while giving prominence to remarks by certain politicians cautioning party supporters against unquestioning the female leader and her associates.

With millions of Kenyans online, bloggers offer a cheaper, faster and more direct way to push favourable narratives, attack rivals and influence public opinion with fewer editorial restrictions than mainstream media.

“The reality is that the side I am supporting has lost faith in mainstream media houses. Mainstream media reporting has to be factual and unbiased. However, everything goes on online platforms, with bloggers eager to cash in.

Here, everything goes because there are no editorial standards or scrutiny, making it fertile ground to manufacture and spew propaganda in the hope of influencing voters. The side I am working for has the money to splash.

He claimed that there is an ongoing implosion in a leading party, and certain bloggers are under instructions to discredit a prominent political family whose identity is intertwined with that of the party.

According to him, the whole idea is to make the family irrelevant in Kenya's political contest as new centres of power emerge.