Kenya
National jurisdiction · as of 2026-10-08
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Kenya has not enacted a law that specifically imposes age-verification duties on adult-content services, social media platforms or app stores, and has no age-appropriate design code enacted as a statute. Regulation 9 of the Kenya Information and Communications (Consumer Protection) Regulations, 2010 requires communications licensees to give parents and guardians a way to block children's access to harmful content.
The Communications Authority's Industry Guidelines for Child Online Protection and Safety, made under those regulations, ask every ICT provider whose services children may access to implement age-verification mechanisms without prescribing a method, but the regulations penalize breaches of the regulations, not of guidelines, so the guidelines are listed as guidance on regulation 9 rather than as a law.
Separately, the Data Protection Act, 2019 requires a data controller or processor to obtain a parent or guardian's consent and to implement an age-verification mechanism before processing a child's personal data, a general data-protection duty rather than a platform-specific age-gating regime.
01
Instruments on record
Kenya Information and Communications (Consumer Protection) Regulations, 2010, regulation 9 (protection of children)
In force
Kenya Information and Communications (Consumer Protection) Regulations, 2010 (L.N. 54 of 2010), reg. 9
Effective 2010-04-30 · Applies to private
Regulation 9(1) requires every licensee under the Kenya Information and Communications Act to establish mechanisms that enable parents and legal guardians to block children's access to harmful content, and regulation 9(2) makes it an offence for a licensee to promote or market alcohol, tobacco or other harmful substances to children.
An offence under the Regulations with no specific penalty carries a fine of up to three hundred thousand shillings, imprisonment of up to three years, or both (regulation 23(2)). Regulation 21 lets the Commission (now the Communications Authority of Kenya) issue guidelines for implementing the Regulations; the Communications Authority's Industry Guidelines for Child Online Protection and Safety are such guidelines and are listed with this regulation as guidance.
Source: Full text of law
Industry Guidelines for Child Online Protection and Safety in Kenya
In force
Industry Guidelines for Child Online Protection and Safety in Kenya (Communications Authority of Kenya, April 2025 edition), cll. 6-8, 14
Applies to private
The Communications Authority of Kenya's guidelines ask every licensee and every ICT product or service provider whose offerings children may access, including content, e-commerce, application and social media services, to develop and implement age-verification mechanisms and to publish a child online protection and safety policy.
They are made under regulations 4, 9 and 21 of the Consumer Protection Regulations 2010, which penalize breaches of the regulations rather than of guidelines, so they are the Authority's guidance on regulation 9 rather than a law of their own. The guidelines took effect on execution and publication by the Authority and gave licensees six months to come into compliance; the text states no day for that execution or publication, and no source stating it has been located.
The guidelines do not prescribe a specific age-verification method, define a child as a person under eighteen years, and are enforced through complaints to the Authority and quarterly compliance reporting rather than a stated fine or criminal penalty.
| Age threshold | 18 |
| Enforcement body | Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) |
Source: Full text of law