Egyptian MPs want people to pay for their Facebook accounts to be monitored

Media reports have said the fee would be 200 Egyptian pounds.
Egypt, parliament
Egyptian parliament to discuss controversial bill Source: Masr Alarabia

Egypt's parliament is set to discuss a draft law on imposing a monthly subscription fee on social media users, particularly Facebook, in a bid to curb cybercrime in the country, local media reported.

With Egypt currently in a state of high alert following the two terrorist attacks that targeted churches in Alexandria and Tanta on Palm Sunday, and which left at least 49 people dead, the bill 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," Egypt Independent reported.

The numbers aren't clear yet

According to media reports, the subscription fee would be 200 Egyptian pounds - a claim that MP Reyad Abdel Sattar, when speaking to Egypt Independent, refuted, saying the fees would be closer to 5 Egyptian pounds. 

Abdel Sattar is behind the bill and has been working to have it discussed in parliament for some time now. 

It will be "difficult" to implement

MP Ahmed Badawy, head of the Telecommunications and Information Committee, clarified in an official statement on Sunday that the feasibility of actualizing this subscription fee would be "difficult". 

"We want to reassure citizens that we have no intention to impose fees on Facebook users in Egypt," he said, according to Masr al Arabia

But people are still concerned

Several social media users and activists expressed their concern in light of the news, raising questions about the cost of the suggested subscription fees and their effect on personal freedoms in Egypt. 

According to Egyptian Independent, many consider this bill as "yet another means to imposing more restrictions," noting that the government already has the ability to monitor Facebook. 

They cited a 2014 report by BuzzFeed News that claims the government of Egypt had signed an agreement with with a U.S.-based digital firm to monitor communications on social media outlets.

"See Egypt, the sister company of the U.S.-based Blue Coat, won the contract over the summer, beating out the British Gamma System, and the Israeli-founded Narus System. See Egypt has begun monitoring Egyptians’ online communications, according to several Egyptian government officials who spoke to BuzzFeed News," the report said.

Blue Coat distanced itself after the news was published, as did the Egyptian government. See Egypt has not issued a response to the story and its website had been removed.

The ACLU is trolling Trump with Arabic 'First Amendment' signs

The campaign is the latest in a string of many others fighting the xenophobic and Islamophobic rhetoric of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Source: Twitter/ACLU

A new campaign for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is attracting a lot of attention as of late, and for good reason. By hanging huge posters in New York's Times Square and Washington, D.C., ACLU aims to remind people of their fundamental rights as outlined by the U.S. Constitution. 

The posters of the First Amendment were made in three different languages - Arabic, Spanish and English - and their purpose is to raise awareness on people's right to freedom of speech, regardless of where a person is from or what language he/she speaks. But, that's not all, the First Amendment also protects the right to practice one's religion without being discriminated against. 

The campaign is the latest in a string of many others fighting the xenophobic and Islamophobic rhetoric of U.S. President Donald Trump.  

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances," the First Amendment says.

ACLU put up these words on billboards and bus shelters in New York's Times Square and Washington D.C.

"Because we now have a president that openly disdains such freedoms, it seemed like a good time to point out the 'We the People' means everyone," Stacy Sullivan, ACLU communications staffer, wrote.

"Trump came to power on a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment, and it was particularly bad when it came to Muslims," she told The Huffington Post.

"We thought this would be a good time to remind the public ― and Trump ― that the First Amendment applies to Muslims and Latinos, and everyone else in this country, too," Sullivan added.

It's not the first time the Arabic language was used to make a political statement against Trump.

In 2016, a billboard on a highway near Dearborn, Michigan mocked the then-presidential candidate. Using Arabic, the billboard addressed Trump, saying: 

"Donald Trump, he can’t read this, but he is scared of it anyway."

The location was chosen because of the large Arab-American population in the area. 

Michigan is home to the second largest Arab-American population in the United States, and the largest mosque in North America is located in Dearborn.

Commenting on the billboard, Dawud Walid, executive director of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told Detroit News

"It is stating a feeling ... that Donald Trump has been a fear-monger about communities he really doesn’t know. What I’ve been hearing on the streets of Detroit and Dearborn ... I have not spoken to a person yet that they’re going to vote for (Trump) in this upcoming election. 

The general statements are he’s just a racist bigot and not just against people of the Islamic faith, but he made comments against Latinos and women."