Egypt administrative court rejects call to ban Facebook

Ahram Online , Tuesday 25 Aug 2015

Court encourages self-censorship

Facebook
A smartphone user shows the Facebook application on his phone in the central Bosnian town of Zenica, in this photo illustration, May 2, 2013 (Reuters)

A Cairo administrative court issued a ruling on Tuesday rejecting a lawsuit proposed by an Egyptian lawyer that aimed to shut down Facebook in Egypt.

The lawsuit claimed that Facebook facilitates prostitution and propagates false information.

The court said that self-censorship and media are the best ways to face any violations on Facebook.

It reasoned that freedom of expression allows self-censorship, and that objective media coverage can reduce the potential harm caused by false information on Facebook and other social mediums.

The court said that any violations on Facebook that constitute facilitating prostitution, engaging in racism, or creating misleading fan pages should be dealt with individually.

In recent years Facebook has played an important role in political life in Egypt after being a prominent factor in the January 25 Revolution.

With many political pages being created in that time period, the state has been pursuing the administrators of pages that incite violence or unruliness.

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