Photo: Egypt’s Cabinet official facebook page
Meeting in the New Capital, ministers reviewed proposals to strengthen the state’s response to rumours and false reports, following recommendations from a recent interministerial meeting that called for early-warning monitoring units in all ministries to detect and respond to emerging misinformation.
Officials said the current legal framework already allows authorities to act against disinformation but acknowledged that existing fines are too low to deter the spread of false information.
The cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, therefore agreed that penalties—particularly those under Article 380 of the Penal Code—should be increased, tasking the Ministry of Justice with drafting amendments in coordination with relevant bodies.
Ministers also discussed the draft law regulating access to official data, which is mandated by Article 68 of the Constitution and is still under preparation.
The legislation aims to expand public access to accurate information while protecting sensitive material, and is presented as a key tool for limiting the spread of fabricated content.
The cabinet further approved measures to strengthen the Cabinet Media Center and ministerial media offices, including formal coordination mechanisms to speed up fact-checking and responses to false claims. The Ministry of Communications was asked to design training programmes to improve civil servants’ capacity to monitor and verify online misinformation.
In its final statement, the cabinet said freedom of the press remains guaranteed under the Constitution, but stressed the need for collective action to confront rumours and false information that could harm the public or the economy.
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