Kenya's Communications of Authority (CA) says close to 300 cases related to the misuse of social media have been reported since August.

CIO East Africa reports that the regulator recently held a press briefing at its headquarters during which Director General Francis Wangusi said the Authority has brought down several websites because of issues that border on incitement, impersonation and hate speech.

The publication quotes Wangusi; "We have dealt with over 300 cases of social media incitement and have brought a number of people to book, though most of these cases are now under National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) and we cannot comment much on the same. We have also brought down a number of sites that have been impersonating media houses, politicians and high-profile people."

Techweez.com reported that earlier this year the CA invested Ksh 600 million in a 24-hour social media monitoring system meant to monitor and gather evidence of wrongdoers and internet users during the electioneering period.

At the time of the election, Wangusi warned that there would be actions against the abuse of any communications platforms in the interests of national security.

"All platforms are under watch - be it the telecommunication, media, and social media platforms. Anybody who happens to send hate speech messages through whatever platform that we have, we would be able to know you, bring it down, and we will, of course, feed the information to law enforcement agencies," Wangusi said.

Joe Mucheru, Cabinet Secretary for Information, Communication, and Technology, said in July that they would "take any measure" to secure the country.

"A warning to those who think they can start inflaming situations through social media and false reporting, we are very clear that as a country we have to take care of Kenya first. So we will take any measures required to ensure that as the constitution requires, that we protect Kenyans."