Telecommunications giant Safaricom has been thrust into the centre of a major privacy and human rights storm following an explosive investigative documentary by Al Jazeera alleging that the company enabled extensive state surveillance operations targeting Kenyan citizens.
The documentary, titled Invisible Eyes: Inside State Surveillance in Kenya, alleges that Kenya’s largest telecommunications provider quietly allowed security agencies access to sensitive subscriber information, including location data, call records, and mobile money transactions, often without court orders.
The exposé has reignited long-running concerns raised by human rights organisations, investigative journalists, and digital rights advocates over the relationship between Safaricom and Kenya’s security apparatus.
Claims of warrantless access
According to the investigation, security personnel allegedly accessed subscriber data directly through systems embedded within the company’s infrastructure.
The documentary cites claims that officers could retrieve call records, location information, and even M-Pesa transaction details without judicial oversight.
Safaricom reportedly did not respond to requests for comment before the documentary aired.
The allegations mirror earlier findings by London-based rights group Privacy International in a 2017 report titled Track, Capture, Kill, which claimed Kenyan intelligence agencies had deeply integrated surveillance systems into the country’s telecommunications infrastructure.
That report alleged that Criminal Investigation Department officers operated from within Safaricom headquarters and that intelligence officers had direct access to telecommunications systems.
Fresh scrutiny over Gen Z protests
The controversy has intensified following claims that surveillance infrastructure was used during the 2024 Gen Z protests, when young Kenyans staged nationwide demonstrations against the Finance Bill and rising cost of living.
Human rights groups previously accused state agencies of using mobile phone data to track activists, protesters and online government critics.
Reports by organizations, including Amnesty International and the Kenya Human Rights Commission alleged that some activists who were later abducted or arrested had been located through telecommunications data.
The article also referenced the case of university student David Oaga Mokaya, where a Safaricom employee reportedly admitted in court that subscriber data had been shared with investigators based only on a DCI request letter and without a court order.
Neural Technologies claims
The exposé further revisited claims first published by Nation Media Group in 2024 alleging that a British software company, Neural Technologies, embedded systems within Safaricom infrastructure that allegedly enabled real-time access to subscriber data.
The report claimed security agencies could allegedly track individuals through a browser-based platform connected to telecommunications data.
Safaricom has previously denied operating systems designed for live subscriber tracking and has maintained that customer data is only shared through lawful procedures.
Human rights pressure mounts
Rights groups have now renewed calls for independent investigations into the company’s data practices.
The Law Society of Kenya previously filed a constitutional petition seeking a court-supervised audit of all requests for subscriber data made by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations between June 2024 and December 2025.
The petition accuses security agencies and Safaricom of operating what it described as an unlawful surveillance pipeline outside protections guaranteed under Kenya’s Data Protection Act.
Meanwhile, digital rights organisation Access Now has reportedly called on Vodacom, Safaricom’s parent company, to launch an independent inquiry into the allegations.
Separate data breach controversy
The surveillance allegations come against the backdrop of another major privacy controversy involving the company.
In 2025, reports emerged alleging that former senior Safaricom managers illegally shared subscriber data affecting over 11 million customers with a private betting-linked entity.
The alleged leak reportedly included names, phone numbers, ID details, location records and gambling histories.
Legal proceedings linked to the case are still ongoing.
Questions ahead of 2027
The latest revelations are expected to intensify political and legal debate over surveillance, privacy rights, and the role of technology companies ahead of the 2027 General Election.
Critics argue that Kenya’s telecommunications infrastructure has become a powerful tool for state monitoring, particularly in periods of political tension.
Safaricom, which controls the majority of Kenya’s mobile communications and mobile money ecosystem, remains central to that debate because of the enormous volume of personal data it holds on millions of Kenyans.
As pressure mounts, attention is now shifting to whether Parliament, the courts, and Kenya’s data protection authorities will open formal investigations into the claims raised in the Al Jazeera documentary and earlier reports.
