Egypt’s Court postpones Facebook, Twitter ban lawsuit

Egyptian Administrative Court adjourned on Tuesday the lawsuit demanding the closure of social media networks Facebook and Twitter to 31 August.

The lawsuit filed by lawyer Mohamed Hamed Salem called for the closure of social networking sites as “they incite violence”.

The lawsuit argued that before the 25 January Revolution in Egypt, foreign intelligence services used social networks “to ignite demonstrations and incite acts of violence, murder, and torching public and private property”.

Salem also argued that those sites are operating without a license and have become a platform for rumours, and that there is no control on them or any attempt to verify those published rumours.

Furthermore, the lawyer pointed out that the social networks provide terrorists with a medium to create fake accounts for the purpose of spreading rumours and fraud, and inciting and planning terrorist attacks within the state.

Early in August, Egypt’s new anti-terrorism law was introduced, setting a minimum prison sentence of five years for individuals who use social media and communication networks to incite “terrorist acts”. In recent months, numerous arrests have been made of people accused of inciting terrorism through social media.

Source: Daily News Egypt