Ideas spread on social media need to be screened: Mufti

CAIRO – 10 March 2018: Egypt's Grand Mufti Sheikh Shawki Allam warned that ideas spread on social media need to be screened, as many of which promote fake news, however the society should benefit by other useful ideas.

Allam said that parents should follow-up their children while surfing social media to protect them from false ideas and offer guidance to the right information, but not to impose some sort of control, in an interview with ON Live on Friday.

Regarding the spread of family disputes among the society, Allam said that parents should rely on constructive dialogue with their children because fathers and mothers serve as role models not only through direct interactions with their children, but through the examples they set with their attitude and behavior within the family and in the outside world.

He added that dialogue nowadays is absent among families because of the modern technology and social media that turned children into recipients only, so parents have to monitor the children at a certain age to avoid being affected by dangerous ideas spread on the Internet.

On the other hand, some members of the Egyptian Parliament called on the government to practice censorship on social media in Egypt.

According to local media reports, the MPs who introduced the idea also called launching awareness campaigns to make Egyptians aware of Facebook’s dangerous effect on society.

Last April, several local news outlets reported that Parliament was to discuss a draft law on imposing a monthly subscription fee on those who use Facebook in Egypt. Media reports indicated that this law could force Egyptians to pay LE 200 per month to use Facebook.

According to members of Parliament, the law would help the government monitor cyber crime and restrict any users, pages or posts that affect Egypt’s reputation, contribute to the spread of fake news or incite violence.