Egypt Forced Vodafone to Send Pro-Government Texts During Protests

Vodafone has revealed that the Egyptian regime forced it to send pro-government text messages as protests recently escalated within the country. According to the provider, Egyptian authorities disseminated their propaganda thanks to a law that allows the state to send out messages across cellular networks during times of emergency. Calling Egypt's actions "unacceptable," Vodafone confirmed that it had "protested to the authorities."

"Under the emergency powers provisions of the Telecoms Act, the Egyptian authorities can instruct the mobile networks of Mobinil, Etisalat and Vodafone to send messages to the people of Egypt," Vodafone Egypt explained, in a statement. "They have used this since the start of the protests. These messages are not scripted by any of the mobile network operators and we do not have the ability to respond to the authorities on their content."

Egypt Forced Vodafone to Send Pro-Government Texts During Protests originally appeared on Switched on Thu, 03 Feb 2011 09:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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