Report warns of expanded blocking and surveillance of Egypt’s online media
A report by the Egyptian Human Rights Forum warned Thursday that overlapping laws governing the internet, telecommunications and the press are expanding government powers to block content, monitor data and control the operation of websites.
The report said these powers threaten freedom of expression, privacy and access to information, and called for legislative reforms to establish clear limits on government authority and ensure effective judicial oversight.
The report, titled “Coding Silence: How Law Restricts Digital Rights in Egypt,” identified several restrictions on online publishing, including website blocking, arbitrary licensing requirements for online news outlets, inadequate data protection, criminalization of expression and encryption, and internet shutdowns.
It said the restrictions stem not from a single law but from overlapping criminal, administrative and technical rules that allow measures affecting people’s rights to be imposed before judicial review is completed. The resulting uncertainty can push individuals and institutions toward self-censorship for fear of prosecution or disruption to their work.
This system conflicts with constitutional guarantees of freedom of opinion and the press, the privacy of correspondence and the right to access information, the report stressed. The problem, it said, lies in broad exceptions based on concepts such as national security, public order and public morals, alongside a lack of transparency about who makes restrictive decisions, why they are made and how they can be challenged.
On website blocking, the report said large-scale restrictions began in Egypt on May 24, 2017, and later expanded to include political and rights organizations, technical services and tools used to circumvent censorship.
It said blocking powers are spread across the Counterterrorism Law, the Anti-Cybercrime Law and the Press and Media Regulation Law, leaving access to websites vulnerable to intervention through multiple legal channels.
Article 7 of the Anti-Cybercrime Law allows the competent investigative authority to order a website blocked under specified conditions, with the order to be presented to a court within 24 hours and ruled on within 72 hours.
The law also allows service providers, in specified urgent cases, to be notified to implement a temporary block before the matter is referred to the investigative authority. The report said blocking before judicial review can cause harm before there is an opportunity to remedy it.
In March 2024, the Journalists Syndicate criticized the continued blocking of some news websites, particularly Al Manassa, which has been blocked 13 times, most recently in July 2022, despite the lifting of restrictions on some other outlets, including Darb, Soulta4, Zat Masr and Masr 360.
Regarding news websites, the report criticized the requirement to obtain prior licensing from the Supreme Council for Media Regulation under Press and Media Regulation Law No. 180 of 2018. It said the possibility of suspending or blocking websites for violating licensing conditions makes their continued operation dependent on administrative approval, despite constitutional protections for press freedom.
On Oct. 27, New Cairo Misdemeanor Court fined Mada Masr Editor-in-Chief Lina Attalah 3 million Egyptian pounds ($55,000) and ordered the website closed and its equipment confiscated in Case No. 11743 of 2026, on charges of operating a website without a license.
In recent years, Mada Masr has sought a license under the Press and Media Regulation Law. It applied to the Supreme Council for Media Regulation in 2018 without receiving a response. After the law’s executive regulations were issued in 2020, the outlet submitted another application, which also went unanswered.
The report said the application fee for an online news license is 50,000 pounds ($915), and that although the regulations set a deadline for deciding applications, the council’s failure to respond does not constitute implicit approval.
The fees and licensing procedures place a heavy burden on small and independent journalism initiatives, the report said, while the law imposes no binding consequences for administrative delays in processing applications.
The report also examined the use of false-news, insult and defamation offenses, as well as provisions related to family values, to restrict online expression. It warned that broadly worded criminal provisions could expose users’ posts and comments to prosecution.
It also called for safeguards to ensure that surveillance and tracking measures under the new Criminal Procedure Law, scheduled to take effect in Oct. 2027, do not further restrict privacy.
The Egyptian Human Rights Forum recommended ending website blocking and requiring authorities to provide reasons for their decisions and allowing those decisions to be challenged swiftly. It also called for regular publication of data on blocking orders.
The forum urged replacing prior licensing for independent news websites with a simplified notification system and reducing licensing costs. It also called for limiting criminal penalties in expression cases and protecting encryption as a tool for secure communications.
The report concluded that written constitutional guarantees are insufficient to protect digital rights when laws and procedures allow restrictions to expand and rights to be curtailed before those affected can effectively challenge the measures.