Kenya-based media outlet set to close after ‘censorship’ by US
Africa, Press Freedom, Updates
Pan-African media platform African Stream has announced it will cease operations on 1 July 2025, citing a wave of censorship triggered by a United States government statement and subsequent social media bans.
The closure comes months after a September 2024 statement by then-U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who publicly labelled African Stream ‘Kremlin propagandists’.
In a statement on 22 June, Ahmed Kaballo, the Editor-in-Chief of the Kenya-based outlet, stated that its accounts were removed from YouTube, Meta, Google, and TikTok after Blinken’s statement. Personal accounts linked to the African Stream project were also restricted, according to Kaballo.
‘These actions shattered our ability to survive financially,’ Kaballo stated in the farewell statement. ‘We are deeply proud of the work we’ve done since 2022, bringing attention to the most underreported and misrepresented continent.’
Despite having built an international following and launching documentaries focused on multiple countries, African Stream said the bans made its operation impossible
African Stream now plans to release a few final films from Mali and Liberia before shutting down all operations.
In his statement, Kaballo urged its supporters to continue advocating for pan-African media.
While African Stream did not directly confirm links to Russia, it maintained that its editorial mission was to amplify Africa-centered perspectives often excluded from Western reporting.
The platform frequently highlighted the themes of colonialism, neo-colonialism and U.S. foreign policy in Africa, including repeated references to U.S. drone strikes in Somalia. These stances drew scrutiny from U.S. outlets like NBC and Voice of America.
African Stream accused these entities of launching a smear campaign, saying it was targeted not for falsehoods but for refusing ‘to play by the rules’ of what it calls ‘imperialist narratives’
The U.S. Embassy in Nairobi was yet to respond to a request for comment on African Stream’s closure by the time of publishing this article. Blinken’s 2024 statement accused African Stream of being secretly run by RT (Russia Today), a Russian state-funded media outlet.
Blinken claimed that African Stream, despite presenting itself as a platform focused on amplifying African voices, was a front for Kremlin propagandists engaged in covert influence operations to spread disinformation and undermine democratic processes globally, including in the U.S. and Moldova.
He added that RT’s activities, including its alleged control of African Stream, were part of broader Russian efforts to sow division in Western democracies and support military procurement for the war in Ukraine.
- This article was first published here
