The High Court of Kenya has delivered a massive blow to the government’s digital control agenda, declaring a key provision of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes (Amendment) Act, 2025, unconstitutional. In a landmark ruling delivered today, Thursday, July 2, 2026, the court invalidated Section 6(1)(j)(a), which had granted a state-run committee sweeping authority to order the shutdown of websites and online applications without judicial oversight.
Justice Patricia Mande ruled that the provision effectively allowed the National Computer and Cybercrimes Coordination Committee (NC4) to act as an “administrative censor,” granting it the power to determine what constitutes “prohibited content” and order its removal or blocking with no requirement for a court order.
“The amendment confers upon an administrative body a sweeping authority to impose prior restraint, the most severe form of censorship, in the absence of procedural safeguards and evidential thresholds,” Justice Mande stated in her judgment.
The court emphasized that by circumventing the judiciary, the law violated fundamental constitutional guarantees regarding freedom of expression, media freedom, and freedom of religion. The judge further noted that the State failed to demonstrate that such drastic limitations on constitutional rights met the strict “necessity and proportionality” tests required under Article 24 of the Constitution.
The ruling marks a significant victory for civil society groups, including the Kenya Human Rights Commission and activist Reuben Kigame, who had challenged the law as a tool for state-sponsored silencing of dissent. The petitioners had argued that the vaguely defined terms—such as “unlawful activities,” “religious extremism,” and “cultism”—were being weaponized to target online critics, journalists, and activists.
The government had defended the amendment, claiming it was a necessary tool to combat terrorism, child exploitation, and violent extremism online. However, the court pointed out that Parliament had already created separate, court-supervised enforcement mechanisms within the same Act, rendering the disputed administrative power redundant and legally suspect.
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