A Research Paper Prepared by: Mahmoud Abdel Zaher
Contents
Methodology
Introduction
Prefatory Note: Criminalizing the Dissemination of Rumors and False News in Egyptian Law
First: State Institutions and Mechanisms for Tracking Rumors and False News
Second: Official Bodies and Initiatives for Information Disclosure
Third: The Crisis of the Official System in Addressing Rumors Amid the Gap in Access to Information
Fourth: Recommendations for Public Policy Reforms on the Circulation of Information
Conclusion
Methodology
This paper relies on content analysis, legal analysis, as well as on tracking and analyzing published data and media reports regarding official mechanisms for monitoring and addressing rumors. The researcher conducted three interviews, including two with members of the House of Representatives and the Senate, and one with a former researcher in one of the government bodies charged with addressing rumors.
Introduction
By the end of 2025, numerous news outlets covered a meeting of the Cabinet in which the government discussed measures to “to reinforce the framework for combating rumors and false news, as well as various forms of harm to society and deliberate damage to the Egyptian economy.” The government addressed this issue by assigning the Ministry of Justice to prepare a draft law amending the Penal Code. The draft law aims to impose harsher penalties on the dissemination of false news and rumors, as if the already severe preexisting penalties, which include custodial sentences, cause the spread of rumors.
Rumors and false news are influenced by multiple factors that either facilitate their spread and their harmful political, economic, or social impact, or lead to their decline and disappearance. Among these factors are transparent and honest rebuttals, as well as proactive disclosure by state institutions of sufficient information regarding the matters they govern and the issues within their authority. Therefore, the government’s current reliance solely on severing penalties to confront rumors necessitates a critical examination of the effectiveness of ignoring the broader set of factors that influence the spread or containment of rumors.
The Egyptian Constitution clearly stipulates that information and data are owned by the citizens, who have the right to access and circulate them. It also imposes an obligation on state institutions to disclose such information. Nevertheless, due to the absence of a regulating law that governs this process, this constitutional provision has not been fully implemented to date, despite the passage of fourteen years since the issuance of the current Constitution, the completion of two legislative terms of the House of Representatives, and the beginning of a third term at the start of 2026.
However, the delay in enacting the necessary legislation does not absolve the government of its duty to respect this constitutional right and to develop procedures to allow this article’s immediate application without waiting for legislative action. This research paper seeks to answer the following question: How do Egyptian authorities deal with false news and rumors amid the continued neglect of the constitutional right to access and circulate information freely?
Several subsidiary inquiries emerge from this foundational question. The paper is structured into five main sections. It begins with a prefatory discussion of the various penalties stipulated in Egyptian legislation for crimes related to publishing rumors and false news. It then examines and evaluates the efficiency and effectiveness of the current system that authorities in Egypt rely on to monitor and address false news and rumors. Finally, it presents recommendations for official policy improvements and mechanisms for the disclosure of information.
Prefatory Note: Criminalizing the Publication of Rumors and False News in Egyptian Law
Egyptian Penal Code No. 58 of 1937 and its amendments contain three main articles addressing the publication of false news and rumors. Article 80 (D) states: “Any Egyptian who deliberately spreads abroad false news, data, or rumors regarding the internal situation of the country, in a manner that could undermine the state’s financial confidence, prestige, or reputation, or who engages in any activity likely to harm the national interests of the country, shall be punished by imprisonment for a period not less than six months and not exceeding five years, and a fine not less than 100 pounds and not exceeding 500 pounds, or by either of these penalties. If the crime occurs during wartime, the penalty shall be imprisonment.”[1]
The legislator did not provide a definition for what constitutes “news, data, or false rumors,” leaving this task to the interpretation of various courts when applying the law. Similarly, other terms in the article, such as “financial confidence in the state,” “prestige,” “reputation,” and “national interests of the country”, are open to broad judicial interpretation. This may restrict citizens’ constitutional and human right to freedom of expression.
General Comment No. 34 issued by the Human Rights Committee[2] addresses standards for drafting legal provisions that limit freedom of expression, stating:
“The law that is to be considered as a ‘statutory law’ must be drafted with sufficient precision to allow the individual to regulate his or her conduct accordingly.[3]
The elements of the crime of publishing false news and rumors include the two traditional elements of any criminal offense. The first is the Material Element, which in this consists of the act of broadcasting or publishing false news, data, or rumors, and the resulting effect of weakening the state’s financial confidence, prestige, reputation, or harming national interests, as stated in Article 80 (D), along with a causal link between the act and the result.
The second element is the Mental Element or (Mens Rea), known as the Criminal Intent. In addition to these two elements, there is a specific element of publicity. For the crime to be constituted, the news or rumors must be publicly disclosed, as expressed in the term “broadcast.” The law does not require a specific method of public dissemination; publishing through any means, including the internet or public announcement, suffices.
Furthermore, Article 102 (bis) of the Penal Code adds:
“Anyone who deliberately spreads false news, data, or rumors that could disturb public order, spread panic among the people, or harm public interest, shall be punished by imprisonment and a fine not less than fifty pounds and not exceeding two hundred pounds. If the crime occurs during wartime, the penalty shall be imprisonment and a fine not less than one hundred pounds and not exceeding five hundred pounds. The penalties apply to anyone who possesses, directly or indirectly, documents or publications containing any of the aforementioned materials, if intended for distribution or for others to view, as well as anyone possessing printing or recording equipment or publicizing means temporarily intended to print, record, or broadcast such material.”
Article (188) of the Penal Code, concerning offenses committed through newspapers and other means of publication, provides that :“Any person who, in bad faith, publishes—by any of the aforementioned means—false news, statements, or rumors, or fabricated or forged documents, or documents falsely attributed to others, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year and by a fine of not less than five thousand Egyptian pounds and not exceeding twenty thousand Egyptian pounds, or by either of these two penalties, where such publication is likely to disturb public peace, incite panic among the public, or cause harm to the public interest.”
Notwithstanding the general legislative framework governing the dissemination of false news and rumors in their various forms, other statutes likewise contain punitive provisions addressing the publication of specific categories of false information. For example, Article (13) of the Law on the Reorganization of the Egyptian Meteorological Authority states that: “Without prejudice to any more severe penalty prescribed by the Penal Code or any other law, and subject to the provisions of Article (11) of this Law, a fine of not less than fifty thousand Egyptian pounds and not exceeding five million Egyptian pounds shall be imposed upon any person who commits any of the following acts: … (3) publishing any inaccurate information relating to meteorology or weather conditions on social media platforms, or by any other means of publication.”[4]
According to the information currently available, this provision has not yet been applied before the courts. This is not attributable to the absence of climate-related rumors, but rather to their limited circulation, particularly considering the Egyptian Meteorological Authority’s practice of publishing, on a daily and advance basis, all information and data related to weather conditions. Moreover, media outlets typically rely on the Authority as their primary and exclusive source in this regard.
The Law on the Regulation of the Press, Media, and the Supreme Council for Media Regulation introduces an additional prohibition[5] on the publication of false news in newspapers, media outlets, and electronic websites, as well as blogs, and personal social media accounts with more than 5,000 followers. This prohibition does not replace the previously outlined criminal penalties; rather, it operates concurrently with them, granting the Supreme Council the authority to suspend or block any relevant website, blog, or account by administrative decision.
The current government is seeking to introduce further aggravation of the penalties prescribed in the aforementioned provisions, notwithstanding the fact that the existing texts are already stringent[6]. It would be more appropriate for the government to prioritize ensuring that state institutions disclose official information and facilitate citizens’ access to such information without imposing financial burdens—particularly given that, to date, no Freedom of Information Law has been enacted.
First: State Institutions and the Monitoring of Rumors and False News
There are several governmental bodies engaged in monitoring and tracking rumors, and subsequently responding to, and refuting what the government considers to be “false news and rumors.” These bodies may be divided into two categories. The first category comprises media units and specialized departments operating within a ministry or official authority. These units are tasked with addressing rumors that fall within the scope of the respective entity’s mandate.
Examples include media offices of various ministries that issue responses, via their official social media accounts, to what those ministries classify as false news or rumors.
The second category consists of governmental mechanisms that address rumors in a more general sense, without being confined to a specific sector. These bodies may prepare detailed—though unpublished—reports on the number, content, and sectoral distribution of rumors, or undertake the training of various segments of society on how to monitor and respond to rumors.
In recent years, the Cabinet Media Center has assumed a prominent role in this regard. According to publicly accessible information, the Center monitors rumors daily, analyzes them, and issues official responses through the Cabinet’s official Facebook page, relying on data and information provided by relevant ministries and government bodies. Numerous other official entities, most notably the State Information Service, reproduce and disseminate the Center’s statements.
Since 2014, the Center has issued an annual report on the rumors it has monitored and addressed. The report is limited to aggregate statistics comparing the number of rumors identified in a given year with those recorded in the preceding year(s). In its most recent report, covering the year 2025, the Center indicates the annual share of total rumors monitored from 2014 to 2025, and presents them as a relative distribution of the cumulative total. The reported percentage for 2025 was 14.5%, compared to 13.8% in 2024, 13.4% in 2023, 11.9% in 2022, 11.2% in 2021, 10.6% in 2020, 9.2% in 2019, 6% in 2018, 4.3% in 2017, 3% in 2016, 1.4% in 2015, and 0.7% in 2014.[7]
The same report includes the monthly distribution of rumors as a proportion of the annual total, as well as a ranking of sectors according to the prevalence of rumors during 2025, based on their relative share of the cumulative period. The economic sector recorded the highest proportion at 20.3%, followed by education at 11.4%, health at 11%, tourism and antiquities at 10.2%, agriculture at 9.6%, and supply and internal trade at 8.8%. The energy and fuel sector accounted for 6.1%. In the same context, rumors related to social protection represented 5.3%, housing 5.1%, transportation 4.6%, telecommunications 3.9%, religious endowments (awqaf) 1.6%, and the environment 1.4%, while other sectors collectively accounted for 0.7%.[8]
The publication also includes a list of ten specific rumors described as the “most dangerous rumors of the year.” These include claims regarding the sale of Downtown Cairo to a Gulf state, the spread of a highly dangerous virus and rising death cases in schools, and the circulation of counterfeit gold bullion coins in markets due to a lack of oversight[9]. However, the report does not clarify the criteria that those who prepared the publication relied upon to assess the “danger” posed by these rumors relative to others, especially given the absence of detailed information concerning the remaining rumors, about which the report provides no substantive data.
A review of similar reports that the Center issued from 2018 through 2025 indicates that their content has been limited to a series of infographic images illustrating the percentages of rumors by sector or by month. In recent years, the reports have also included comparisons between the number of rumors circulating in a given year and the cumulative number of rumors the Center has monitored since 2014.
The Center has consistently refrained from disclosing the actual number of rumors it has identified during the years under review. Instead, its publications present statistical percentages derived from comparisons between figures that remain undisclosed. Moreover, the Center has not published any information regarding the methodologies it employs in its data collection and analysis. Consequently, there is no clarification as to how rumors are monitored, whether they are identified through online sources, public discourse offline, or both.
The center does not either explain the criteria by which a particular piece of information or narrative is classified as a rumor, especially in matters open to multiple interpretations. Additionally, there is no available information concerning the scope of dissemination of these rumors, or whether a single inaccurate post on one social media platform is treated in the same manner as information replicated across multiple posts or platforms.
The question that arises, therefore, is whether all the false news and rumors that are reportedly monitored are in fact responded to. Or is there a higher authority that determines which issues may be addressed publicly and which must not be discussed, even where such topics have gained significant traction within society? These questions remain unanswered so long as the Center’s methodology and full reports remain undisclosed.
Several news websites have recently reported that the Prime Minister has directed the launch of a digital platform for the Cabinet’s Media Center to enable the rapid verification of published news. The platform is expected to rely on advanced artificial intelligence technologies to assist in verifying the accuracy of published content by conducting a “content analysis” within seconds of any published news item or image and delivering highly accurate results.[10] This development suggests that the government’s near-term vision for addressing false news and rumors is limited to updating its mechanisms of monitoring, surveilling, and responding within the Center, while disregarding the need to address structural information gaps.
A second governmental mechanism for addressing false news and rumors is the “Take a Stand With Us” Unit within the Ministry of Youth and Sports. The Unit began as a Ministry initiative aimed at organizing “broad-based awareness campaigns across all governorates, involving Egyptian youth from various backgrounds. The initiative forms part of the call launched by the President of the Republic urging Egyptian youth to confront the challenges facing the Egyptian state, whether internally or externally, including countering rumors, promoting greater awareness of contemporary issues, preparing a generation of youth capable of confronting rumors, and resisting destructive foreign media that promote misinformation and seek to instill frustration among Egyptian youth.”[11]
In November 2020, the Unit implemented its first activity: a training program to prepare trainers on confronting rumors and their impact on national security. The program’s participants included eighty-five young men and women who had graduated from strategic and national security studies courses organized by the Ministry in cooperation with the Nasser Military Academy, representing the governorates of Cairo, Alexandria, Suez, Gharbia, Sharqia, New Valley, Assiut, Minya, Sohag, Port Said, and Matrouh.[12]
The Assistant Minister of Youth and Sports stated in a televised interview that the Unit operates through multiple tracks, including training youth to confront rumors. Trained individuals can then raise awareness in youth centers, universities, and schools across various governorates. The Unit also organizes roundtable discussions for experts and specialists, in addition to forming partnerships with companies and social media platforms, including Meta and TikTok, with the aim of training youth on how to deal with rumors. Furthermore, the Unit operates through a team of researchers who monitor rumors, attempt to anticipate “seasonal rumors,” such as those related to the beginning of the school year, and notify the relevant government entities to address them.[13]
More recently, the Ministry of Youth and Sports announced that it had implemented a training program, through the “Take a Stand with Us” Unit, for content creators and media influencers entitled “How to Be an Influencer.” The Ministry hosted a large number of content creators and influencers in various events and activities across the governorates, as part of its efforts to strengthen partnerships with influencers, build effective channels of communication with content creators, expand the scope of positive influence, and engage them in conveying what it describes as the “true image” of state efforts. The initiative also seeks to harness their reach to serve national causes, support national messages, consolidate awareness, confront rumors, and to promote a sense of belonging and national identity.[14]
Following this program, in January 2026, the Ministry of Youth and Sports announced the establishment of the “Creator Hub,” which is affiliated with the “Stand With Us” Unit and described as “a specialized national platform aimed at preparing and qualifying a new generation of content creators capable of consciously expressing national issues and contributing effectively to protecting and building societal awareness.”[15] The new center aims to launch joint digital campaigns with government entities, produce diverse awareness content (videos, infographics, podcasts), manage official social media platforms, organize specialized workshops and training courses on news verification and combating rumors, and develop a code of conduct for content creators.[16]
To date, the “Take a Stand With Us” Unit does not directly confront false news or rumors circulating on social media platforms or within society at large. Its role is limited to organizing and coordinating capacity-building programs on monitoring rumors, understanding their risks, and addressing them. Participants in these programs subsequently raise awareness in schools, universities, youth centers, and other gathering spaces. The Unit also maintains a research group composed of youth engaged in its activities, in addition to the Ministry’s media team. This research group monitors rumors circulating online and across social media platforms and notifies the relevant government entities whose mandates encompass the subject matter of those rumors, enabling them to take appropriate action and issue official responses.[17]
In addition to the two principal mechanisms described above, the first of which directly monitors and responds to false news and rumors, and the second monitors rumors and trains thousands of young people to detect and counter misinformation, various ministries and governmental bodies have made dispersed efforts to address what they consider false news or rumors falling within their respective mandates. These efforts typically take the form of issuing press releases, delivering televised or media statements, or publishing posts through official social media accounts to deny a specific incident or claim.
However, there is no information available regarding what methodologies these entities rely upon to monitor and analyze false news and rumors. Moreover, the irregularity of publication and the multiplicity of communication channels indicates the absence of a structured institutional system within these bodies for systematically monitoring and responding to misinformation.
Second: Official Bodies and Initiatives for Providing Access to Information
The governmental apparatus in Egypt includes multiple bodies and initiatives aimed at providing citizens with access to data and information. The data and information in question here are held by official entities, and which the current Egyptian Constitution characterizes as “owned by the people.” Article 68 of the 2014 Constitution states that: “Information, data, statistics, and official documents are the property of the people. Their disclosure from various sources is a right guaranteed by the State to every citizen. The State shall commit to providing and making them available to citizens with transparency. The law shall regulate the rules for obtaining and making them available, their confidentiality, and the rules for their deposit and preservation…”[18]
The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) constitutes the most prominent entity in this regard. It is the principal governmental body responsible for collecting and analyzing data, and for producing and disseminating official statistics across various sectors, including demographic, economic, and social fields. The Agency also provides qualitative analyses of these statistics, which are incorporated into studies published in its periodicals or issued as independent publications. These are sold in print form at the Agency’s headquarters, while substantial portions are made available through its official website, which underwent significant updates following the launch of a fully redesigned platform in October 2025.[19]
The Agency’s website provides a wide range of macroeconomic and sectoral indicators, including data on inflation, unemployment, production, consumption, foreign trade, and other economic measures. It also offers detailed data on population, labor markets, education, health, housing, social protection, and other human development–related fields. Notably, the data are available for download in multiple formats, facilitating their reuse in academic analysis, reporting, and comparative studies.
The pivotal role played by the Agency in voluntarily publishing and making available government-held data, is significantly undermined by the absence of any mechanism regulating the process of publishing and updating data. In other words, in the absence of legislation mandating governmental disclosure, the publication and updating of data remains subject exclusively to the discretion of the relevant governmental bodies.
For example, the Agency conducts a periodic Household Income and Expenditure Survey in Egypt, which is intended to be carried out biennially. Nevertheless, the most recent survey conducted and published on the Agency’s website covers the period 2019-2020 and was released in September 2021. This leaves a five-year statistical gap on a matter of considerable importance.
During these five years, Egypt experienced profound political and economic transformations, including the COVID-19 pandemic and its repercussions on the labor market, development rates, and overall economic activity, the Russian-Ukrainian war, the war in Gaza, the civil war in Sudan, and the unprecedented domestic waves of inflation. These factors illustrate the magnitude of potential changes in household income, expenditure patterns, and poverty rates during the period in which no updated survey has been published. Such data is critical for governmental development planning, and for the geographical (re)distribution of social assistance programs by charitable institutions and civil society organizations.
Under the current framework, citizens have no legal right to request information that is not already published or does not exist. Neither CAPMAS nor other official bodies are legally compelled to conduct such surveys or to publicly share their findings with citizens, researchers, journalists, or other interested parties.
The Cabinet-affiliated Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC) also plays a prominent role in publishing and disseminating information through its website, official social media accounts, and a recently launched mobile application. It publishes updated news about the daily activities of ministries and provides monthly, quarterly, and annual reports addressing political, economic, and social matters.
In 2003, the Center launched a new initiative in the form of an online platform titled the “Egypt Information Portal.” The Center describes this portal as:
“One of the means of publishing and making information available, and a channel of knowledge provided by the Information and Decision Support Center to the Egyptian citizen. It has presented a picture of life in Egypt to the international community, in both Arabic and English, since its launch in June 2003. It thus constitutes one of the principal references reflecting Egyptian developments and reality. It also serves as a channel for social communication, enabling interaction with the community and identifying its needs and perspectives regarding important issues, through a continuously updated communication medium.”[20]
The Egypt Information Portal does not itself collect data. Rather, it serves as a (gateway) to data and statistics that ministries and governmental bodies already hold. The portal displays informational publications issued by these entities, as well as publications produced by the IDSC that reorganize and re-present data held by various ministries in structured reports or more accessible visual formats, such as infographics. This mechanism suffers from the same deficiency noted in relation to CAPMAS. Citizens have no mechanism with which to request unpublished information from the Center, nor do they possess the right to obtain an explanation for the absence or delay of an expected informational report or publication.
In addition to the aforementioned entities, the websites of ministries, governmental authorities, specialized councils, and their official social media accounts publish news and certain data regarding their activities and issues falling within their jurisdiction. However, selective publication practices, the lack of regularity and comprehensiveness, and the frequent failure to update content constitute significant weaknesses if one seeks to rely on these channels as dependable means of accessing data and information held by public authorities.
Third: The Crisis of the Official System in Addressing Rumors Amid the Gap in Access to Information
The government demonstrates significant interest in addressing what it considers “false news and rumors.” Nevertheless, to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of this system, it is necessary to understand how it operates, what criteria are used to classify a particular piece of information as a “rumor,” the extent of rumor dissemination, or even the number of rumors monitored. To date, this information remains unknown, making it impossible to assess the system’s efficiency.
What is known, however, is that less attention is given to publishing and making information and data available. Even in the absence of legislation regulating disclosure mechanisms, the circulation of information, and citizens’ right to request it, the government could take the initiative to enhance publication and access to information through existing channels or by developing new mechanisms.
Several years ago, current Member of the House of Representatives and former Senator Dr. Mohamed Farid sought to enhance access to the State Public Finance–related data by submitting a proposal to the government specifically calling for the periodic updating of data and information available on the Ministry of Finance’s website and on the Public Business Sector Information Center’s website. The latter was a specialized platform providing financial information about holding companies affiliated with the Ministry of Public Business Sector prior to its abolition in the most recent cabinet reshuffle.[21]
Dr. Farid did not receive a response regarding his proposal from the relevant committee within the Senate at the time, the Financial, Economic, and Investment Affairs Committee.[22]As of the writing of this paper, the aforementioned website remains accessible online, and the government has not disclosed the fate of this center or the public business sector companies following the abolition of the Ministry of Public Business Sector.
Rumors and false news tend to flourish in societies where transparency is absent, whether regarding the issues governments address or the manner in which they handle them. Among the main factors contributing to the spread of rumors is the absence or delay of official information, as the resulting information vacuum enables individuals and unofficial entities to exploit this absence by disseminating unreliable news. When official authorities delay publishing information or refrain from providing it, an information vacuum emerges, allowing rumors to spread as a substitute for the truth. Gordon Willard Allport explains that “the failure to provide official data in a timely manner leaves the door open to unreliable interpretations, leading to public misinformation and increased uncertainty.”[23]
The House of Representatives shares responsibility with the government for the transparency gaps and the deficiency of information. Constitutionally, the House of Representatives is the authority responsible for legislation. If most of the laws issued during the first and second legislative terms were government-drafted bills approved by Parliament, this represents a departure from the norm. In principle, the House of Representatives should not wait for draft laws to be submitted by the government. It must also defend citizens’ constitutional rights, including the right to freedom of information circulation. In this context, various societal actors, foremost among them civil society organizations, have made efforts to advance a draft law on freedom of information circulation[24] and have issued guides[25] and studies[26] to assist Parliament in carrying out this responsibility. However, these efforts have not yet succeeded.
The transparency-related information gap also affects the House of Representatives itself. During the second legislative term (2020–2025), most parliamentary sessions were not broadcast live, as was the case of the first legislative term (2015–2020). In June 2017, the “Sawt Al-Shaab” (Voice of the People) satellite channel, owned by Egyptian state television and dedicated to broadcasting parliamentary sessions live, was shut down.[27]
Attempts to fully restore the live broadcast of parliamentary sessions have not succeeded, despite the efforts of several MPs, including MP Amira Saber, who submitted a request to the Speaker to resume live broadcasting of House sessions.[28] The Council completely ignored this request, which Amira Saber considers unjustified. Citizens have the right to follow the parliamentary sessions that represent their interests. Amira Saber continues to renew this demand even after the end of her membership in the House of Representatives and her transition to membership in the Senate. She maintains that citizens have the constitutional right to follow the sessions of both the House of Representatives and the Senate.[29]
Information gaps do not only affect citizens’ ability to monitor the government’s work and to withstand rumors and false news; they also affect the efficiency of state authorities. In our interview with him, MP Dr. Mohamed Farid explained that the legislative and policymaking process cannot function efficiently in the absence or shortage of information and data. This may lead to friction between government officials and Members of Parliament tasked with conveying citizens’ concerns and complaints. In the absence of accurate data, the process may devolve into merely transmitting public frustration and anger.[30] These gaps may also result in legislation that is poorly aligned with reality and with people’s needs and requirements, sometimes necessitating amendments to laws shortly after their issuance.[31]
Laws issued by the House of Representatives are published periodically. However, they are not easily accessible to all citizens. The Constitution requires laws to be published in the Official Gazette as a condition for their validity and entrance into force. Citizens’ presumed knowledge of these laws is established once they are published in the Official Gazette, which the Amiri Press Authority prints and makes available for sale to those who can conveniently access its headquarters in the capital. It is also available electronically on the Authority’s website.
However, the website requires a periodic fee for subscription, quarterly, semi-annual, or annual. This is despite the absence of intellectual property rights over the Official Gazette, which belongs to the people. Anyone may republish its content without legal liability, as some news websites and occasionally the Bar Association’s website do.
As part of its initiative to facilitate access to legislation and their latest amendments for specialists, the Cabinet launched the Egyptian Legislation Legal Portal, which includes legislation, legal provisions, court rulings, and other materials. Instead of serving as a free portal compensating for the paid services provided by the Amiri Press Authority, the new service is also fee-based, at a cost multiple times higher than the subscription to the Amiri Press website. The annual subscription fee for the Cabinet’s legal portal amounts to 5,267 Egyptian pounds.[32]
Regardless of the financial value of either service, citizens should not be required to pay to access the laws that the Constitution obliges them to comply with, particularly in light of rising poverty rates in Egypt in recent years.
Fourth: Recommendations for Changing Public Policy Related to Access to Information
The issuance of a law regulating freedom of information constitutes a fundamental pillar of any effective system for addressing false news and rumors. It is therefore the primary, and most important, recommendation in this context. Pending the availability of the political and legislative will necessary to enact such a law, the government, in its various components, can initiate a set of measures and procedures for publishing and making information available through existing official websites, government information bodies, and official government accounts on social media platforms, as an alternative general policy for addressing rumors and false news.
If the Egyptian government were to stop expending resources on monitoring and responding to rumors and instead redirect its financial and human resources toward publishing and making official information available, this shift would achieve two objectives: first, guaranteeing citizens’ constitutional right to freedom of information; and second, making a tangible contribution to limiting rumors and misinformation.
In this regard, the following recommendations may be considered:
- Launching a unified government plan that delineates the responsibilities of each ministry and government body with respect to publishing and making their respective information and data available to citizens.
- Prioritizing the development of platforms and mechanisms to provide accurate information and data about government operations and about political, economic, and social life, through an accessible and user-friendly manner. This particularly includes: the website of the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics, the Cabinet’s website, the website of the Information and Decision Support Center and its affiliated Egypt Information Portal, and the website of the State Information Service.
- Designing and delivering capacity-building programs for employees within government bodies—particularly those involved in collecting, analyzing, and preserving data and information—with the aim of enhancing their ability to implement digital transformation and to publish and make data accessible in simplified formats.
- Developing governmental publication and disclosure mechanisms that support periodic, updated centralized publication through major information platforms such as the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics website and the Cabinet’s Information and Decision Support Center website, as well as periodic, updated decentralized publication through ministries, governorates, and various government bodies, along with their digital and non-digital platforms.
- Amending the operating models of official websites that provide information and data for a fee, such as the Legal Portal for Egyptian Legislation and the Amiri Press website, so that these platforms offer their services entirely free of charge.
- Inviting civil society organizations, research and academic centers, professional syndicates, political parties, media institutions, experts, and other stakeholders to engage in continuous dialogue aimed at improving the publishing process and making information and data available, while responding to the recommendations issued during the 2023 National Dialogue sessions in this regard.
Conclusion
This paper has analyzed the mechanisms through which official authorities address false news and rumors, as well as the government’s handling of the constitutional right to access information and data held by public authorities. It becomes clear that the current public policy for addressing false news and rumors requires a fundamental reorientation. Priority should be given to discussions and action plans that guarantee the publication and free, easily accessible availability of official information to citizens. Such an approach would help prevent the expansion of doubt and uncertainty among the public regarding public affairs. The Egyptian government must recognize that continuing to be limited to responding to rumors will not achieve the desired outcome as long as the policy of withholding official information persists.
[1] Article 80 D of Law No. 58 of 1937 (Penal Code): https://manshurat.org/node/14677 [2] The Human Rights Committee is one of the treaty-based mechanisms for the protection of human rights within the United Nations system. It is established under Article 28 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and monitors the extent to which States Parties to the Covenant fulfill their obligations under its provisions. The Committee receives periodic reports from these States on the domestic implementation of the Covenant’s articles. The Committee also has the task of interpreting the provisions of the Covenant and issuing general comment guidance to States to assist them in implementing it in the best possible manner. [3] Human Rights Committee: General Comment No. 34, adopted in Geneva in 2011. https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/715606?ln=ar&v=pdf [4] Law No. 25 of 2023 on the Reorganization of the General Authority for Meteorology. Available via the Manshurat Legal Portal: https://manshurat.org/content/sdr-qnwn-d-tnzym-lhyy-lm-llrsd-ljwy [5] Article 19 of the Law on the Regulation of the Press, Media, and the Supreme Council for Media Regulation (Law No. 180 of 2018). Available via the Manshurat Legal Portal: https://manshurat.org/node/31481 [6] Youm7 website: News titled “The government confronts rumors and fake news… Preparing a draft law to tighten fines for related crimes… and expediting the completion and issuance of the draft law regulating the (circulation) of official data and information,” published on December 10, 2025.https://www.youm7.com/7229382 [7] The official Facebook page of the Cabinet (Council of Ministers): A post titled “Efforts to Confront Rumors in 2025,” published on January 12, 2026.https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1449403943896688&set=pcb.1449404373896645 [8] Ibid [9] Ibid [10] Al-Watan website: News titled “Plan to Confront Rumors: ‘Rapid Response’ Teams… and Refuting Hostile Platforms,” published on February 4, 2026. https://www.elwatannews.com/news/details/8219332 [11] Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC), Cabinet: “7 Years of Achievements: Community Development, Youth and Sports Care Sector,” 2022. https://tinyurl.com/4vxhdezx [12] The official Facebook page of the Ministry of Youth and Sports: News titled “Minister of Youth witnesses the conclusion of the first phase of the national program ‘Take a Stand With Us’ to prepare trainers to confront rumors and their impact on national security,” published on November 19, 2020. https://tinyurl.com/yejm9pzs [13] A televised intervention by Dr. Mohamed Hassan Nady, Assistant Minister of Youth and Sports, on the program “Sabah El-Kheir Ya Masr” (Good Morning Egypt), Egyptian Channel One, on November 25, 2011. Available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDcdZkNYE4Y [14] State Information Service: News titled “The Ministry of Youth and Sports announces the launch of the Content Creators Center affiliated with the ‘Stand With Us’ Unit,” published on January 6, 2026. https://tinyurl.com/fhc95s2t [15] State Information Service: News titled “The Ministry of Youth and Sports announces the launch of the Content Creators Center affiliated with the ‘Stand With Us’ Unit,” published on January 6, 2026. https://tinyurl.com/fhc95s2t [16] Ibid [17] An online personal interview with a former researcher in one of the governmental mechanisms for dealing with rumors, conducted in February 2026. [18] Article 68 of the current Egyptian Constitution. Available on the website of the State Information Service: https://tinyurl.com/3ux7njy9 [19] Al-Shorouk website: News titled “Barakat: Launch of the upgraded website of the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics,” published on October 27, 2025. https://tinyurl.com/mrxtrjdf [20] Egypt Information Portal website: https://eip.gov.eg/IDSC/StaticContent/View.aspx?ID=3 [21] Youm7 website: News titled “Cancellation of the Ministry of Public Business Sector after 10 years and discussion of transferring companies to the relevant ministries,” published on February 10, 2026. https://www.youm7.com/7300691 [22] Source: Personal online interview with Dr. Mohamed Farid. Conducted in February 2026. [23] Osama Badie Abdel Hamid, Master’s thesis entitled: “The Impact of Rumors on Political Stability in Egypt 2011–2023.” Unpublished. [24] The Freedom of Information Circulation Bill submitted by the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression to the National Dialogue: https://afteegypt.org/legislations/2023/06/11/34634-afteegypt.html [25] Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression: Legislator’s Guide to Drafting a Freedom of Information Law, issued on December 31, 2021. https://afteegypt.org/advocacy/manuals/2021/12/31/27891-afteegypt.html [26] Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression: Second edition of the study on Freedom of Information, issued on March 5, 2013. https://afteegypt.org/legislations/legislative-analysis/2014/03/05/6430-afteegypt.html [27] Al-Shorouk website: News titled “Merging ‘Sawt Al-Shaab’ Channel into ‘Nile News’,” published on July 31, 2017. https://bit.ly/3OAO6P0 [28] Al-Watan website: News titled “Female MP calls for broadcasting House sessions live: ‘We want people to see our work,’” published on December 25, 2021. https://www.elwatannews.com/news/details/5875912 [29] Source: Telephone call with MP Amira Saber, member of the Senate. [30] Personal online interview with Dr. Mohamed Farid conducted in February 2026. [31] Ibid [32] Egyptian Legal Portal for Legislation: https://elpai.idsc.gov.eg/Bundles
