A member of Parliament’s Committee of Culture and Information said the committee will submit a draft law on freedom of information for discussion in the Parliament during its upcoming fifth and final round, set to begin in October.
MP Nashwa Al-Deeb said the draft law aims to confront spread of rumours on social media, asserting the citizens’ right to know the truth.
Al-Deeb said she believes that absence of such law contributed to spread of rumours and showed that media outlets lack credible source of information.
“Rumours are only created when the truth is hidden, thus they represent a real threat to national security,” Al-Deeb stressed.
“We need new media figures, as most of the current ones lost their credibility. We also need strong opposition newspapers, to make some balance,” she said.
Another member of the committee, MP Nader Mostafa, affirmed the necessity of fighting rumours through a clear legislation taking into consideration the developments in the media.
MP Youssef Al-Aqeed expected that the government to draft another law on the same topic and will be discussed and approved in the next round.
“Laws alone are not enough to solve this problem. We should work on raising awareness among citizens about this issue,” he said. Although these rumours have increased in the recent period, especially on President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, but the people still can differentiate between the true and fake news.
