Swedish tech company, Truecaller, has today kicked off in Kenya a campaign titled #ItsNotOk aimed at supporting women in acting against phone call/SMS based harassment. The company says the campaign is in continuation of its utmost priority on the safety of women in the country. The company says this campaign is a testament to their relentless pursuit of ideas that safeguard the interests of women through community-based action.

Truecaller says that over the years, they’ve received countless complaints and feedback on the issue of harassment through calls and messages. They say that owing to the lack of research available on this topic and the significant increase in the cases of harassment, they took on themselves the responsibility.

As per the latest edition of Truecaller Insights: Understanding the Impact of Harassment Calls & SMS for Women in Kenya in March 2020, 1 in 5 women reported receiving sexual or inappropriate calls, but only 2 out of 10 women have said to have taken some action against harassers. From the research, users said that reporting to law enforcement or authorities was of little help, with a 6% dismal chance of action being taken.

According to Truecaller, today, over 1 million women in Kenya use Truecaller as their first line of defence against calls and SMS based harassment. As part of this edition of the campaign, the company has taken up print publications and outdoor sites to spread the message. The primary objective of the campaign, the company says, is to get more women to report such harassment, that occurs through phone calls and SMS, to the right authorities without any fear.

The company shares that their website: www.truecaller.com/itsnotok-ke has been the resource centre over the last few years and has a wealth of information including the full report, resources on what action women can take along with real and unscripted interviews of real women from across the world who faced such harassment and want to tell their stories.

Truecaller has been present in Kenya and across the world for over 10 years now. They say that their commitment to technological innovation and bringing technology to the masses is reflected in the over 270 million active users who use their platform.