08/06/2026
The Egyptian Parliament has begun considering new amendments to the Cybercrime Law, framed as a response to online extortion, gambling, and online games in the name of protecting children and young people.
This paper challenges the push for broader criminalization and harsher penalties, highlighting the limits of punitive approaches to digital and social challenges that cannot be addressed through criminal law alone. Many of the acts currently under debate are already criminalized under existing legislation, while protection gaps often stem from underreporting, difficulties in preserving digital evidence, and slow institutional responses.
The paper proposes an alternative legislative and regulatory approach: publishing a comprehensive impact assessment, conducting a thorough review of the current law, and developing tailored responses for different harms.
Amending the Cybercrime Law Is Not the Answer: A Legislative Position Paper