Egyptian authorities have arrested six members of an online platform accused of spreading false information and operating as part of the banned Muslim Brotherhood’s media network, the Interior Ministry said on Thursday.
The ministry said the platform, Matsadaqsh, was an unlicensed online page allegedly operated from abroad by fugitive Abdel Rahman Shoukry Ali Abdel Jalil Mansour. Authorities accused members inside Egypt of preparing what they described as fabricated reports and sending them overseas for publication in return for financial payments.
One of those arrested is registered with Egypt’s Journalists’ Syndicate, while the other five are not members, according to the ministry. Legal procedures have been initiated, officials said.
Matsadaqsh describes itself as a fact-checking and investigative platform covering Egyptian and Arab content and has more than 1.3 million Facebook followers. The platform has denied the allegations and rejected claims of affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood.
Egypt banned the Muslim Brotherhood and designated it a terrorist organisation in 2013. The latest arrests come amid heightened government efforts to counter what authorities describe as misinformation and destabilising online activity.
