Egyptian religious institutions and deputies called on people to validate social media posts before interacting with them in light of concerns over hate speech.
Egypt's Endowments Minister Mohamed Mokhtar Gomaa stressed that terrorist groups’ attempts to provoke against the Egyptian state and its institutions must be defied by all means. The minister said earlier that people shouldn’t share or like a post before validating it.
Egypt has been facing a wave of false news since the beginning of the "corona crisis" – these rumors encourage people to breach social distancing and neglect precautionary measures put by Egypt to face the pandemic.
For his part, telecommunication and information technology expert Dr. Moqbel Fayad said that some of these posts have become a source for fake news especially that a great segment of internet users believe them and share them.
Fayad told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that this is dangerous, demanding to embark on projects to raise awareness among youths.
Moreover, deputy Ahmed Darwish told the newspaper that any internet surfer should double-check the posts and not share it unless they are authentic. In most cases, the state is denying such rumors and fake news.
Some deputies accused the Muslim Brotherhood – designated as terrorists by the Egyptian authorities – of spreading rumors and questioning the procedures taken by the authority against the pandemic.
Some parliamentarians push for passing a law that incriminates calls for hatred.
