Actions exposing any personal Facebook account to be banned

CAIRO – 15 June 2018: According to Article 19 of the new media law which was approved by the Parliament on June 12, any person, who has a personal account on Facebook and is followed by more than 500 Facebook users, will be suspended or blocked by the Supreme Council for Media Regulation if he/she violates the law.

Article 19 of the draft law prohibits media outlets, including online websites, from publishing or broadcasting false news or news that incite violence, hatred, discrimination, racism, intolerance and blasphemy, as well as publishing any posts that touches on religious beliefs.

On June 12, the Parliament approved the two drafted laws aimed to regulate the National Press Authority and the National Media Authority.

Head of Parliament’s Media, Culture and Antiquities Committee, Osama Heikal, said on Sunday during the plenary session that the draft laws cover all aspects of media and press activities in Egypt, and do not include any articles that could send journalists to jail in publication offences.

In the same context, Egyptian Parliament speaker, Ali Abdel Aal, said the laws were drafted three years ago by a committee formed of experts from the government and the Press Syndicate, but a lot of debate raised in media and press circles surrounding the draft laws.
Parliament issued the Institutional Regulation of the Press and Media law in December 2016, which establishes and regulates the Supreme Council for Media Regulation, the National Press Authority and the National Media Authority's activities.

However, due to the gap that emerged as a result of the rapid progress of technological development in the media, press and social media, the Joint Committee has separated each body and drafted an independent law for each of them.

Hence, three new laws will automatically lead to the elimination of the Institutional Regulation of the Press and Media law.