Online censorship in Egypt

Freedom of expression lies at the heart of the changes that have swept Egypt over the past few years. Egypt’s protests, uprisings and revolutions have all showed that free expression was not something just for academics, journalists and artists – relatively privileged members of Egyptian society. 

The homogeneity of Egyptian media is not the product of direct censorship but of a more complex system of content control. Direct censorship of the media ended in 1971, and it was replaced by a more ambivalent regime of self-censorship. Under the self-censorship regime, the government allowed political parties and private individuals to own newspapers and television channels. But private proprietors generally shared economic interests with the state and that ensured a degree of content control. And there were other ways for the state to make sure that journalists censored themselves. Members of the Journalists Syndicate are paid allowances, which helps keep controversies like torture, or the military’s dominance of the economy, out of the public eye, and splashes soporific or stupefying stories on front pages.

The 2011 revolution completely disrupted the self-censorship system. Mass public protest changed news agendas. “Red lines” around sensitive topics like the military temporarily disappeared. Many people took to Facebook or Twitter. Social media has emerged as a relatively unregulated space for free expression in Egypt, a place where tweeters and facebookers can express unrestrained hostility against either the government or opposition.

Print and broadcast journalists could produce “trending on Twitter” stories that need neither corroboration nor government approval. News websites began to offer a space for alternative voices attuned to the mood of change, hyperlinked to the uncensored and controversies of social media. And in June 2012, the state of emergency was lifted.

However, self-censorship is back. The print and broadcast media with its bulky infrastructure and dense state links has proved the easiest to control. 

At the same time, self-censorship is still being resisted. Over four hundred journalists signed a counter-declaration of November 1, which described the editors’ declaration as “a victory for terrorism through the voluntary abandonment of freedom of opinion and expression.”  Egyptians are still hotly debating freedom of speech, even though news editors may try to keep these debates off page or off screen. People wanting to find out about these arguments need to look in less regulated spaces – and many go online to find them.