Impact of social media as a political activism tool during the June 2024 youths’ protests in Kenya

Abstract

In recent years, social media has become a vital tool for political engagement, empowering younger generations to actively participate and influence government policies, leadership and political processes. The Kenyan Gen Z’s June 2024 protests against the 2024/2025 Finance Bill demonstrated social media’s impact as a political activism tool. During the protests, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok were used to plan demonstrations and encourage participation. The study’s objectives were, (a) to examine the impact of Facebook, X and TikTok as a political activism tool, (b) to explore the role played by each platform and (c) to assess whether the three platforms caused any political, social and policies changes. The study found a gap in the limited academic research on the social media’s impact on the June 2024 youth protests. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to explore the impact of Facebook, X and TikTok as political activism tool during this period. The research was guided by Agenda Setting and Social Information Processing theories. This study contributed to the Agenda-Setting by showing how social media not only shapes public opinion but also spurred offline political action, connecting online debate with tangible results like the Finance Bill 2024's withdrawal. The study enhanced SIP Theory by demonstrating that, even under situations of governmental monitoring and repression, online exchanges fostered solidarity across generations and long-term collective mobilization. The study used qualitative research design and inductive thematic analysis to analyse data. The study found that social media played the role of mobilisation, coordination and sensitization during the protests, also each of the three platforms played distinct roles and that there were political, social and policy changes resulting from the protests. The study recommended further studies on the long-term consequences of digital activism on political confidence, electoral behaviour and governance changes and further studies to ascertain whether Kenya’s experience is distinct or is part of trend within the continent of Africa.