Vodafone Forced By Egypt To Spread Propaganda

U.K. based Vodafone is saying it was forced by the Egyptian government to send government scripted pro-Murabak text messages to its Egypt customers. There have been many accounts on Twitter showing the texts as they were sent during the protests this past week in the shaken country.

"Vodafone Group protested to the authorities that the current situation regarding these messages is unacceptable," said in a statement released by Vodafone. "We have made clear that all messages should be transparent and clearly attributable to the originator."

Vodafone says that it could do nothing to stop the government from sending out those texts, saying the Egyptian government has been using the country's emergency laws to write text messages and send them to Vodafone subscribers.

The company has been scrutinized for its part in the information shutdown in Egypt with the disabling of the Internet and cutting off cell phone service. Vodafone says it had to obey the orders of the Egyptian government because it was under legally permissible.

[Via CBS News]