Egypt targets Gen Z online activism with arrests and surveillance

Egyptian security forces have arrested dozens of young people after monitoring and infiltrating youth groups on social media platforms, including Discord, in what rights groups say is an effort to suppress emerging "Gen Z" activism.

The Egyptian Network for Human Rights says the information it obtained shows that some detainees, most of them young people, have been brought before prosecutors, while others remain subjected to enforced disappearance, with no official disclosure of their legal status so far.

The organisation called for transparency, respect for the rule of law and guarantees for detainees' rights, particularly for young people and minors.

Human rights activist Ahmed El Attar told Arabi21 news site that there was no new public information about the detainees, adding that sensitive details could not be disclosed in order to protect sources and those detained.

He said the recent detentions were part of a sustained security approach to online activism over the years, with authorities often infiltrating youth organisations by creating replica groups that closely resemble the originals in posts and design, a tactic that has led to further arrests.

Generation Z has alarmed authoritarian governments due to its adept use of social media to organise protests against corruption, demand accountability, and raise issues such as poverty, unemployment and social inequality.

Gen Z, broadly defined as those born between 1997 and 2012, make up roughly 1.86 billion people globally, or about 23.6 percent of the world's population, according to UN estimates. Around 40 million are believed to live in Egypt.

In recent years, Gen Z-led protests have erupted in countries including Kenya, Bangladesh and Indonesia, before spreading to Nepal and Morocco under the banner "Gen Z 212".

Amnesty International has described government responses in some of those cases as brutal, involving live ammunition and rubber bullets.

Rights groups and activists say disgruntled Egyptian youth have increasingly turned to Discord, a platform that allows users to create private and public groups, making it attractive for political discussion and organising.

This has raised concerns among Egyptian authorities, particularly after Morocco's Gen Z movement moved from online organising to street protests.

While reports that Egypt had blocked Discord were later denied, security assessments and user complaints suggest the platform was closely monitored.

Egyptian users have reported difficulties accessing Discord since 2018, despite its availability across major operating systems and web browsers.

Online calls have continued urging young people to join peaceful movements for political change. One such initiative, promoted under the slogan "Revolution of the Joints", has called on youth to organise via Discord to end military rule and establish a political system based on popular will, the rule of law and peaceful transfers of power.

The GenZ002 of Egypt movement describes itself as neither a political party nor a religious group, but a youth movement seeking to build a new social and political consciousness grounded in freedom of expression and non-violent change. The group has drawn attention for its weekly discussions on Discord covering political, economic and security issues.

Pan-Arab journalist Nezam Mahdawi posted on X that participants had discussed topics ranging from land sales and public debt to prisons, Gaza and Nile water rights "with a boldness unheard of for years", adding that Egypt's leadership should be concerned.

The recent wave of arrests has raised questions about the scale of the Egyptian government's concern over Gen Z activism and whether security forces can contain a potential youth-led movement before it materialises.

Mohamed Hamdy, deputy head of the Technocrats of Egypt Party, said the authorities were not only targeting Gen Z but "besieging all Egyptians", relying on repression as a means of survival.

"If reports of infiltrating Discord or other platforms are true, this reflects the fragility of a system that cannot tolerate young voices," he said, adding that authorities had failed to learn from the 25 January 2011 uprising.

Hamdy said he was not aware of confirmed arrests linked directly to Discord participation, warning that authorities have a history of fabricating cases against young people with no political involvement. He suggested some arrests may have been random, based simply on the presence of the application on phones.

Egyptian activist and journalist Adham Hassanein said Gen Z differs from previous generations in that it is less shaped by fear following the 2013 military takeover, creating fertile ground for mobilisation.

"These youths were too young to experience the events of 2013," he said, adding that their lack of fear and heightened political awareness could eventually push them into the streets.

Meanwhile, rights groups warn that arrests have increasingly targeted young women as well. Human rights lawyer Abdelrahman al-Badrawi said in a post on Facebook that women were now being detained at a rate of one every few days, with the number of female detainees in 2025 nearing 1,000.

He said women often face worse detention conditions than men, and were frequently arrested over social media activity, including for posts or even liking opposition content.

Badrawi warned that the expanding crackdown could lead to serious consequences, noting that recent detainees differ significantly from those arrested in the years immediately after 2013.