The Cybercrime Law requires service providers to store user data on the user’s online activity for a 180-day period; authorities may request access to this data. Service providers that fail to comply with the data storage requirement may face punishments ranging from 5 million to 10 million Egyptian pounds (LE), while companies that do not submit information to government authorities upon request may be imprisoned for up to three months and face fines between LE200,000 and LE1 million. Under the law, investigating authorities can submit a judicial request for an order to censor or block a website if the site has published content that constitutes a crime per the law and poses a threat to national security or compromises national security or the national economy. In more urgent cases, such requests can be made directly to the National Telecom Regulatory Agency. Service providers that do not adhere to a censorship request face fines ranging from LE500,000 to LE1 million and a one-year prison term. If national security is harmed because of a service provider’s noncompliance in blocking a website, the fine is increased to a range between LE3 million and LE20 million.
