Unable to snoop on users Egypt blocked Facebook’s Free Basics in '15

Egypt blocked Facebook Inc's Free Basics Internet service at the end of last year after the US company refused to give the Egyptian government the ability to spy on users, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Launched in Egypt, in October, Free Basics targeted low-income customers and allowed access to a limited set of internet services to anyone with a cheap computer or smartphone. They needed to create a Facebook account though.

The Egyptian government suspended the service on 30 December saying that the mobile carrier Etisalat had only been granted a temporary permit to offer the service for two months.

According to two sources with direct knowledge of discussions between Facebook and the Egyptian government, Free Basics was blocked as the company would not let the government circumvent the service's security to conduct surveillance.

They declined to state exactly what type of access the government had demanded or what practices it wanted Facebook to change.