The Head of Communications at Google Africa Dorothy Ooko has revealed that they terminated a YouTube account belonging to Andrew Kibe for violation of the platform’s terms of services.
In a statement on Sunday, Ooko responded to concerns from social media users over the decision to terminate Kibe’s account.
According to her, Kibe was restricted to using some features on YouTube including uploading videos on his channel.
However, she explained- Kibe used other channels to circumvent the restriction and hence the termination.
“While he was restricted from using YouTube features, including uploading videos on his channel, he used another channel to get around these restrictions aka circumvention, resulting in termination of all his channels,” Aoko stated.
According to YouTube guidelines, grounds for terminating an account include repeated violation of terms of service, hate speech or harassment, and select cases of single abuse.
She, however, did not disclose the reason Google imposed the prior restrictions on his account.
Also Read: Andrew Kibe Unveils New Channel After YouTube Sting
What Kenyans said on Andrew Kibe
Ooko’s response came amid critics from a section of Kenyans calling out the tech giant for what they termed as censorship.
Since the news about Kibe’s account broke last week, Kenyans expressed their rage over the move terming it an attempt to “cancel” free speech.
“If the account got taken out without any prior warning… that can’t be right,” an X user stated.
Another one said: “Surely if you canceled just his account, he should be allowed to create a backup and continue with his job as he solved the case with his main account”.
Also Read: YouTube Shuts Down Andrew Kibe’s Channel
Kibe’s new platform
Shortly after the account was terminated, Kibe unveiled a new content sharing platform, Yafreeka, which he launched to compete with YouTube in Africa.
On Sunday, Kibe sought to earn the attention of President William Ruto with a statement about Yafreeka’s potential.
In the statement tagging President Ruto, Kibe touted the app as a homegrown social media platform and an alternative to censorship and limitations.
“Our investment has the ability to significantly enhance organic content creation in remote villages, towns, colleges and cities all over Africa thus unlocking the full potential of our digital economy,” Kibe stated.