The Egyptian House of Representatives’ Communications Committee held its fourth hearing on Tuesday to discuss a draft law to protect children from the dangers of social media, during which Minister of State for Information, Diaa Rashwan, called for a ban on mobile phone use in schools.
The Ministers of Culture, Information, Religious Endowments, and Parliamentary Affairs, as well as representatives from the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority attended the hearing.
The head of the committee, Ahmed Badawy, said that the committee will begin discussing a comprehensive draft law aimed at regulating children’s use of social media applications and websites after Eid al-Fitr.
Badawy also revealed the government’s intention to draft a law on artificial intelligence.
The Vice President of the NTRA, Hossam Abdel-Mawla, said that the authority will launch a service within a month enabling parents to activate dedicated phone lines for their children.
This service will allow parents to control content through codes that block access to pornographic and violent websites.
It will also include protocols related to electronic games.
An information security expert and advisor to the Supreme Advisory Committee for Cybersecurity and Information Technology, Walid Haggag, explained that the proposal requires mobile phone companies, when issuing a new line for a child, to specify the user’s age group through an official declaration submitted by the parent.
Haggag explained that if the user is under the legal age – say under 16 – a filtered data SIM card from the same company will be activated.
And a member of the Higher Advisory Board for Information Technology and Vice President of the Digital Transformation Committee, Nivin Hosny, emphasized that the law’s objective should not be limited to simply blocking access.
