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Witness History: Egypt's Facebook Girl

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Egypt's Facebook Girl

25/01/2021 GMT

BBC World Service - Witness History, Egypt's Facebook Girl

How social media was used to organise against Egypt's government before the Arab Spring

Israa Abd el Fattah was one of the first Egyptian activists to use social media to help organise anti-government demonstrations.

A wave of popular anti-government uprisings swept through the Arab world in the early months of 2011. Many of the activists who took to the streets were inspired by social media posts. Israa Abd el Fattah was one of the first Egyptian activists to use social media. In April 2008 she tried to organise a general strike in protest at low wages, and rising prices. She was given the nickname "Facebook Girl". In 2011 she used her experiences with Facebook to help mobilise people before the Egypt's Arab Spring uprising.  She spoke to Zeinab Dabaa for Witness History in 2017. She has since been detained by the Egyptian authorities.

Photo: Israa Abd El Fattah in her office in Cairo in 2011. Credit: Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty Images

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