Switched has a new home! Huffpost Tech.

Click here to visit the new home of Switched!

Hot on HuffPost Tech:

See More Stories
AOL Tech

Egypt Forced Vodafone to Send Pro-Government Texts During Protests

by Amar Toor on February 3, 2011 at 09:50 AM

pro-egypt text from vodafoneVodafone 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."

Tags: cellphones, egypt, EgyptProtests, emergency, government, politics, propaganda, Texting, top, Vodafone, vodafone+egypt, vodafoneegypt

HuffPost AOL Social News Most Popular