Incident
Egypt: media law used to fine and block news site al-Mashhad
Under a 2018 law that treats any social media account with more than 5,000 followers as a media outlet, Egypt's media regulator fined news site al-Mashhad and ordered internet providers to block it for spreading what it called false news.123
What happened
Egypt's Law No. 180 of 2018 applies to every online and offline media outlet and, separately, to any social media account with more than 5,000 followers, treating such accounts as media outlets subject to regulation by the state's Supreme Council for Media Regulation. The law bans content the council judges to be false news, defamatory, obscene, or a threat to national security, with violators facing fines of up to 250,000 Egyptian pounds and having their websites blocked. On March 22, 2019, the council fined the news site al-Mashhad 50,000 Egyptian pounds and ordered Egyptian internet providers to block the site for six months. Al-Mashhad appealed, and on April 7 the council reduced the block to one month starting from the appeal date, but the site remained inaccessible inside Egypt as of May 7, 2019, according to the source reviewed.123
Unresolved; al-Mashhad remained blocked in Egypt as of the date given in the source reviewed.123
What reason was given
Stated justification
What changed for reporting
The law let a state regulator fine and block a news site inside the country over content it alone judged false, without the matter going before an ordinary court first.3
Timeline
2019
Who acted
| Name | Role in this incident | Office at the time |
|---|---|---|
| Abdel Fattah el-Sisi | other | President of Egypt |
| Supreme Council for Media Regulation | other | Egypt's state media regulator |
Outlets and journalists
| Name | Kind | Relation |
|---|---|---|
| Al-Mashhad | outlet | affected |
Sources
- Egypt tests new media law with handling of al-Mashhad website block
- Supreme Media Council blocks Al-Mashhad newspaper
Claims and evidence
Each numbered claim quotes the source it rests on.
- The scope of Law No. 180 of 2018 as applied to social media.
applies to all online and offline media outlets, as well as social media accounts with more than 5000 followers
Egypt tests new media law with handling of al-Mashhad website block, Committee to Protect Journalists, 2019-05-07.Claim 690, checked 2026-09-22. - The regulator's specific action against al-Mashhad.
fined al-Mashhad 50,000 Egyptian pounds (US$2,909) and said Egyptian internet service providers would block the paper's website for six months
Egypt tests new media law with handling of al-Mashhad website block, Committee to Protect Journalists, 2019-05-07.Claim 691, checked 2026-09-22. - Status of the block after al-Mashhad's appeal.
al-Mashhad was still inaccessible in Egypt as of May 7
Egypt tests new media law with handling of al-Mashhad website block, Committee to Protect Journalists, 2019-05-07.Claim 692, checked 2026-09-22.