Social Media Under Threat in Egypt

Guest: Ramy Raoof, Senior Research Technologist, Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) While we in America concern ourselves with the tone of our speech and whether our discourse is civil, there are places in the world where expressing yourself can get you put in prison.  The government of Egypt has been systematically cracking down on critical voices online. The latest proposal involves requiring every Egyptian who uses Facebook to get approval from the government first. If citizens get on social media without permission, they could end up in jail for six months or pay a significant fine. Ostensibly, the idea is to prevent terrorists from using social media to promote dangerous ideas. But critics say the proposal is just another attempt by the government to monitor citizens and stifle free speech.