On September 23, 2021, at 2pm EDT, Foreign Law Specialists Tariq Ahmad and George Sadek will present our next Foreign and Comparative Law webinar, “Free Speech & the Regulation of Social Media in Egypt and Pakistan.” Please click here to register.
In recent years, there has been increased global focus on the governmental responses to the dissemination of hate speech and false information online. This webinar will focus on current and proposed legal frameworks for regulating unlawful/harmful speech on social media platforms in Egypt and Pakistan. The presenters will address the obligations (e.g. content removal) and liabilities of social media companies, the criminalization of certain online content, and the free speech implications for these limitations on online platforms. The presentation will include a discussion of the controversy surrounding recently issued and revised social media rules in Pakistan as well as types of criminal acts on social media and their penalties under Egyptian law.
About the presenters:
Tariq Ahmad and George Sadek are foreign law specialists at the Law Library of Congress.
Tariq’s research work at the Law Library covers mostly South Asian common law jurisdictions, particularly India and Pakistan. He also covers Canada and certain Caribbean countries. He takes a particular research interest in religion and law issues in the South Asia region. Tariq holds an LL.M. degree in international law from American University Washington College of Law and an LL.B. from University College London. He also holds a BA in political science from Ohio State University.
George conducts research on the laws of Arabic-speaking countries and Islamic law. Prior to joining the Law Library of Congress, he worked as a Middle East specialist in academic institutions and government agencies, such as the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University and U.S. Army Special Operations Command (USASOC). In 1999, he earned an LL.B. from Cairo University Law School in comparative international law. During his years at Cairo University, he studied three types of legal systems: Islamic Shari’a (law), common law, and civil law. In 2004, George earned a J.D. (equivalency) from George Mason University and an LL.M. (Masters in Comparative Law) from American University Washington College of Law.