Egypt targets social media users in free speech restrictions

TWITTER and Facebook users in Egypt with more than 5,000 followers will be monitored under the state’s media regulator as new laws restrict free speech and crack down on dissent.

Egypt’s parliament passed a bill regulating the press that includes restrictions on social media, one of the few remaining forums for criticism in the increasingly authoritarian country.

The bill allows the government-appointed Supreme Media Council to monitor and take action against bloggers, Twitter and Facebook users with more than 5,000 followers who publish “fake news or incitement to illegal actions, violence or hate”.

Several prominent bloggers and activists on social media have been arrested over the past year, with the government showing little tolerance for dissent as it presses ahead with harsh economic reforms. The reforms have been criticised by many Egyptians for raising prices.

The country has blocked hundreds of websites, including independent local media such as Mada Masr, and international rights groups like Human Rights Watch.

Conventional media in the country, both state owned and private, is largely supportive of Abdel Fattah al-sisi, the president, who says Egypt enjoys a free press, yet has called on journalists to be careful in what they report.