Egypt has blocked 21 websites, including Qatari-based news network Al-Jazeera, for content it said shows support for “terrorism, extremism,” state news agecny MENA reported late Wednesday.
In statements to the agency, a senior security source said the websites were blocked for their intention to spread lies.
The source only named seven of the 21 websites, including Al-Jazeera, Al-Sharq TV Channel Website, Misr El-Arabia, El-Shaab, Arabi 21, Rasd, and Hamas Online, adding that legal action would be taken against these sites.
Cairo accused several of the websites, including Al-Jazeera, of having ties with the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood group, and linked others to being funded by Qatar.
Egypt has long accused Al-Jazeera of carrying out a hostile media campaign against the country since relations between Cairo and Doha soured following the ousting in 2013 of Egypt’s Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, a key ally of the Gulf country.
Other websites that have banned in Egypt include independent news site Mada Masr, which was launched in 2013 by a group of journalists formerly of Al Masry Al Youm’s Egypt Independent, as well as Huffington Post Arabic.
The websites, however, were not explicitly named by the authorities.
Wednesday’s move comes one day after authorities in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) blocked the main website of Qatar’s al Jazeera TV, which Riyadh and Abu Dhabi.