Internet governance not mean social networks

Internet governance "does not mean restricting social networks," President of Arab Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Ministers’ Council, Abdelmalek Sellal, and President of the Council’s Executive Bureau Mohamed Salem said Tuesday in a joint statement to the press. Sellal underlined that the creation of Arab Forum of Internet Governance has been proposed by Arab ministers during the 16th session of Arab ICT Ministers Council, held in Oran (432-km west of Algiers), "not to restrict social networks or limit the freedom of Arab internet users but to secure the networks and protect Arab citizens from harmful contents, through a means that will be adopted for prevention not restriction." For his part, Salem said that Internet governance is an Arab demand that "does not aim at limiting the freedom of Arab citizens in internet use, but it aims at organizing internet access and adapting it positively to the aspirations of the Arab nation," adding that internet governance has nothing to do with Arab internet networks and has no intention to restrict them.