Egyptian Members of Parliament are proposing a new bill to require social media users in Egypt to pay monthly EGP 200 [Avg. 11 USD per month] as a form of “registration” fees.
According to members of Parliament, this law would help the government to monitor cyber crimes and restrict any users, pages or posts that damage Egypt’s reputation, contribute to the dissemination of fake news or incite people against public peace and national unity.
In statements to Parlamany, Reyad Abdel Sattar, a member of the Free Egyptians Party, said that requiring Egyptians to pay monthly registration fees would allow the government to discover those who use social networks for “bad” reasons against the state’s institutions.
“The purpose behind the suggested subscription is to put all users under government surveillance so it can effectively restrict any attempt by Egypt’s enemies to use social media as a mean to broadcast rumors and incite [people] against Egypt’s army and police forces,” he explained to Egypt Independent.
Egypt will inform Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg that his website services will no longer exist in Egypt unless the website allowing the application of the suggested code that would enable the government to count Facebook users and monitor the published content, he added.
The government recently suggested that a cyber crime law be drafted and referred to Parliament for discussion. This law should be finalized soon in the hopes that it would effectively contribute to confronting all violations on social media outlets, including hate speech, hacking and terrorist propaganda.
