A Nairobi court has charged a man accused of publishing inflammatory and false information online, after days of online speculation and trending hashtags by Kenyans demanding to know his whereabouts following claims that he had been abducted.
Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations’ Special Crime Unit on Monday arraigned Boniface Mulinge Muteti before the Milimani law courts, ending a wave of social media activity in which users questioned his sudden disappearance after a controversial post on X.
Hashtags calling for his release and accountability from security agencies circulated widely, with some users alleging he had been unlawfully detained.
According to prosecutors, Muteti published a post on 6 December 2025 urging members of the public to seize property owned by politicians and to “arm yourselves and prepare for the coming uprising”.
Investigators allege the message was knowingly false and deliberately intended to incite violence and public disorder, contrary to section 23 of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrime Act No 5 of 2018.
The state says the post went beyond political rhetoric and amounted to a direct call to violence at a time of heightened public frustration over governance and inequality. Authorities argue that the rapid spread of such messages online poses a serious risk to public safety, particularly when framed as a call to collective action.
Appearing in court, Muteti pleaded not guilty to the charge. The magistrate granted him bail of Sh15,000 pending trial, and scheduled a pretrial hearing for 30 December 2025.
In a statement following the arraignment, the DCI reminded Kenyans that spreading false information online is a criminal offence and urged responsible use of social media.
For now, the hashtags have quieted.
