Egypt's New Law Targets Social Media, Journalists For 'Fake News' (reuters.com)

Egypt's parliament passed a law Monday giving the state powers to block social media users and penalize journalists for publishing fake news. "Under the law passed on Monday social media accounts and blogs with more than 5,000 followers on sites such as Twitter and Facebook will be treated as media outlets, which makes them subject to prosecution for publishing false news or incitement to break the law," reports Reuters. From the report: The Supreme Council for the Administration of the Media, headed by an official appointed by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, will supervise the law and take action against violations. The bill prohibits the establishment of websites without obtaining a license from the Supreme Council and allows it to suspend or block existing websites, or impose fines on editors. The law, which takes effect after it is ratified by Sisi, also states that journalists can only film in places that are not prohibited, but does not explain further. Supporters of Sisi say the law is intended to safeguard freedom of expression and it was approved after consultations with judicial experts and journalists. But critics say it will give legal basis to measures the government has been taking to crack down on dissent and extend its control over social media.

Comments

Egypt is now a military dictatorship ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Posting this anonymously, because I am Egyptian, and the regime there is brutal, and I don't want to endanger myself or my family.

The parliament that passed this law is a joke. It was hand picked from a fake party that was created by intelligence officers, to guarantee that no real opposition faces Sisi, the military officer who took control of Egypt and became president.

Here is an thorough article by an investigative journalist: Anatomy of an Election.

The journalist, Hossam Bahgat, who uncovered all this is now harassed continuously. That includes forced disappearance and illegitimate detention and questions by the military (not even a civilian court).

You can see a sample of his other works relating to the situation in Egypt here.

This is just a small snapshot, and there are thousands of political and human rights activists are either harassed, jailed, or otherwise intimidated into silence.

Re:What went wrong in Egypt?

[Zumbs]

A number of things went wrong.

First and foremost, after ousting the dictator by popular mobilization, the rebel leaders allowed the army to take power in a year long interim period and send the masses home. This broke the power of the masses. Furthermore, it allowed the deep state to use its propaganda to demobilize the hearts and minds of the population. Contrast this to Tunisia where the elections were held shortly after the uprising.

One of the arguments for the interim period was partly to set the stage with some rules to govern the elections, but also for opposition parties to get ready. Everybody knew that the Muslim Brotherhood would win if the elections were held immediately (and they were likely right). So, the army got the rest of the opposition leaders to agree to an interim period by pointing out that they would not win an immediate election.

As you remember, Mohammad Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood won the election, fair and square. When he won, he started to gather power in his hands and in the hands of his supporters. Some say it was because he was an autocrat trying to become a dictator. And they may have been right. However, looking back at modern Egyptian history (the revolution of 1952), he is likely to have anticipated that the army was gearing up for a coup and he was simply trying to get ready. Note that the two opinions do not conflict: He could have been both trying to become a dictator and anticipated a coup at the same time.

His power grab did serve to give the army both an excuse (that he was grabbing a lot of power) and got them the support of most of the opposition. Thus, the army could go in, take power and start a nasty campaign of repression against the Muslim Brotherhood with the support of the opposition. After having finished off the Muslim Brotherhood, al-Sisi could then turn on the remaining opposition as well as the ringleaders in the uprising against Mubarak, effectively finishing the counter revolution.

What went wrong? Comparing Egypt with Tunisia should show it clearly: Whenever the masses has ousted a nasty dictator, the rulers are on the defensive. That is when you apply pressure to get changes. If you demobilize the masses, you demobilize the force that put the rulers on the defensive and the major source of revolutionary power. This gives the rulers the time to regroup and start all sorts of campaigns to make it hard to remobilize the masses, setting the stage for counter revolution. As we saw in Egypt.