YouTube Warriors: Egypt’s Political Exiles Defy the Regime Online
Key strategy: Diaspora political networks
Political activism outside of their country can allow activists to bypass censorship, connect with global audiences, and shed light on abuses that are ignored or suppressed by the regimes they oppose.
Key tactic: Digital activism
Digital or online activism involves using digital tools—like social media, petitions, or messenging apps —to organize supporters and advocate for environmental change. It can help groups reach international audiences and evade censorship by traditional media.
Key tactic: Satire and humor
Authoritarian regimes often rely on fear and threats of violence to assert control. Mocking those in power can be a powerful way to undermine fear and build strength in the opposition.
A month after the outbreak of the Gaza war in October last year, self-exiled Egyptian journalist and screenwriter Belal Fadl took to YouTube. In a video on his channel – followed by over 290,000 people – he alleged that Ibrahim Al-Arjani, an Egyptian businessman, had been involved in collecting thousands of dollars from Palestinians desperate to flee Israeli bombardment through the Rafah border into Egypt.
The Egyptian government staunchly denied these claims, which were almost impossible to find on Egyptian media, despite being backed by countless credible sources.
In July this year, Egyptian ex-police officer Hesham Sabry – also self-exiled – confirmed to his 127,000 YouTube followers rumours that the then newly appointed Egyptian minister of education held fraudulent academic credentials.
A month later, Egyptian human rights activist Marlyn Tadros interviewed an eyewitness to the 2013 Rabaa massacre, in which state security forces killed hundreds of protesters. Speaking on her Youtube channel, Amr Hashad also spoke of being imprisoned and tortured by the government following his arrest in 2018.
None of these revelations could have been voiced inside Egypt, where the government of President Abdul-Fatah Al-Sisi clamps down on dissent and around 60,000 political prisoners have reportedly been behind bars since 2014.
Yet on YouTube, self-exiled Egyptian opposition figures are challenging state-imposed narratives propagated across the country’s domestic media.
“The regime is actively shutting down and controlling every platform where free expression and truth can be shared,” says Ziad Al-Elimy, a political activist and co-founder of the Kifaya (Enough) movement, which played a key role in the lead-up to the 2011 uprising that ended late-President Husni Mubarak’s 30-year rule. “The only remaining platforms for this are based outside the country.”
Liberation and chaos
“It’s not just that you can’t run a media platform to express your views – you’re not even allowed to post [criticism] on social media."
The 2011 revolution opened up a brief window of free expression in Egypt. Amidst political confusion and uncertainty, many new TV channels and newspapers were launched, existing ones shifted alliances and political debates went almost uncensored.
“After the 2011 revolution, the authorities had too much on their hands,” explains Mona Magdy, an assistant professor at Cairo University’s Faculty of Media. “They couldn’t prioritize media influence.”
Mired by turmoil, extremism and economic hardship, Magdy describes this transitional period as “more chaos than freedom.” And ultimately it was the Muslim Brotherhood who took best advantage of the chaos.
“The Brotherhood used their popularity, forged an alliance with other Islamic extremists and weaponized Islamic TV channels to attack any opposition. They called me the devil’s voice,” Fadl says, referring to a book published by a key Egyptian Salafi figure in response to Fadl’s criticism of the Brotherhood’s political maneuvers.
Egypt’s first-ever freely elected president, Mohammed Morsi, was criticised and mocked like no other in the country’s history. But the military takeover that cut Morsi’s reign short in 2013 also brought Egypt’s brief experience of freedom to a halt, says Hania Moheib, an Egyptian media expert: “There was a clear and explicit decision to suppress freedom of expression.”
The United Nations, as well as human rights groups like Amnesty and Human Rights Watch, have also called out the Egyptian government’s harsh repression of criticism from the press and activists. And restrictions on freedom of speech don’t just impact traditional press and TV channels.
“You’re not even allowed to post [criticism] on social media,” Moheib says. Since 2018, any social media platform or account with more than 5,000 followers is treated as a media institution under the law.
In July 2023, Egyptian authorities arrested cartoonist Ashraf Omar over drawings criticizing government decisions. Later, in November 2024, journalist Sayed Saber was detained following a satirical Facebook post in which he criticised what he described as the “fascism of military rule”. Both remain in pre-trial detention at the time of writing.
The family of prominent activist Alaa Abdelfattah, who played an instrumental role in the 2011 revolt, are currently pleading for his release from what they – and human rights defenders – describe as arbitrary detention.
In 2021, Abdelfattah was charged over posts he shared on Facebook about torture in Egypt, and sentenced to five years in prison. At the time of writing, his mother, 68-year-old Laila Souief, has been on hunger strike for more than two months.
Revealing corruption from within
“We need democracy, a real parliament, and a government run by the people.”
This iron grip on platforms with Egypt means voices of dissent from abroad play a vital role in shedding light on the regime’s abuses. And often, these voices speak from first-hand experience of the internal workings of the regime.
In 2018, Mohamed Ali, began posting videos on Facebook alleging “widespread” corruption in the Egyptian military, for whom he had worked as a contractor for over 16 years.
“I became one of them,” Ali says of the military. “I started from nothing and eventually rose to the level where I was building presidential palaces.”
Eventually, he decided he “couldn’t do it anymore” and fled to Spain. “I wanted to expose the deep state – the military, which controls everything and is driving the country to ruin,” he says. “We need democracy, a real parliament, and a government run by the people.”
Ali’s videos gained traction online, and in September 2019 sparked protests on the streets of Egypt, a rare sight in a country where dissent is not tolerated.
“He connected with the public for several reasons,” Moheib says. “First, his modest background and simple, populist language resonated with large segments of the population who were struggling. Secondly, his admission of being part of the corrupt system he was exposing gave him a sense of credibility.”
His posts about lavish spending on palaces also coincided with Egyptians facing spiking inflation and a tumbling local currency, which many attributed to what they saw as Sisi’s irrelevant mega projects – of the kind Ali had been involved in building.
In 2023, Ali was sentenced to life in prison on charges of treason. Yet he continues to post videos with details about alleged corruption, relying on information he says he obtains from inside sources through encrypted messaging apps like Telegram.
“What happened in 2019 after Mohamed Ali’s videos shows that Egyptians are ready to be influenced by opposing opinions,” Moheib says.
“I realised I was part of a system that was destroying Egypt. I wasn’t directly involved in torture, but I did participate in rigging elections. I justified it by thinking that as long as it was against the Muslim Brotherhood, it was acceptable.” – Hesham Sabry
Credible sources
Hesham Sabry, a former state security officer under Mubarak who now lives in the US, launched his YouTube channel Qawl Gheir Fasl (Inconclusive Opinion) in 2019, sharing inside information about the Sisi government.
“I rely heavily on technology to communicate with my sources securely, ensuring their confidentiality,” Sabry told Unbias the News. He says his sources don’t work in state security “but they have strong ties with many state figures.”
Sabry says he began questioning his role in Mubarak’s regime in 2007. “I realised I was part of a system that was destroying Egypt. I wasn’t directly involved in torture, but I did participate in rigging elections. I justified it by thinking that as long as it was against the Muslim Brotherhood, it was acceptable.”
Now a law professor, Sabry also runs a private business and spends his weekends creating content for Qawl Gheir Fasl. “People then kept telling me that the information I was sharing was completely new to them,” he recalls.
Over time, the channel gained popularity. As with Mohamed Ali, Moheid says Sabry’s insider experience of the workings of the regime is key to his popular appeal: “His strength lies in presenting himself as a former officer from within the system, with his entire family still working in official institutions. This gives the impression that he is not only bold, brave, and rebellious but also has reliable sources inside the establishment.”
Sabry’s connections also mean he faces immense pressure to pull the plug on his YouTube channel. “It affects my personal life,” he says. “They’ve exhausted all their tricks with me, and while they’ve managed to harm me in many ways, I’ve endured it,” he notes, without elaboration.
Sabry says he cannot go back to Egypt now. “There are no official charges against me … But the regime doesn’t need court rulings to pursue and harass dissidents.”
"I don't - Marlyn Tadros
Voices of history
Marlyn Tadros, a professor of Media Arts and Communication at Southern New Hampshire University in the US, was forced into exile by the Mubarak regime following a severe security crackdown on human rights organizations in 1998.
“I was working in the field of human rights, but the crackdown shut down all organisations, including the one I was part of, the Information and Legal Studies Center for Human Rights,” she explains.
In 2021, Tadros launched Cairo in Exile to document the experiences of Egyptians under the Sisi government. Initially an audio-only platform in English, she has now transitioned to Arabic video content in Youtube.
“The only way to understand what was happening was through those who have suffered and experienced it firsthand,” she says. “The opposition who were imprisoned are my friends, my loved ones, and their children.”
But her platform gives a voice to figures from across the political spectrum, in and outside of Egypt: “I don’t always agree with everything said on my channel, but as a human rights advocate, I believe all perspectives must be heard.”
Tadros was also driven by a strong belief in the power of memory. “I am passionate about documentation because our memories fail us, and we tend to forget quickly,” she says.
Tadros’ audience isn’t huge, but Fadl says her channel plays a vital role in preserving testimonies: “When the time comes to write the history of this era, Cairo in Exile will be one of the key resources.”
Educating the public
Inside Egypt, history is already being rewritten. School textbooks tell a story of the overthrow of President Morsi in 2013 that glorifies the army and erases the role of ordinary protestors. Even sermons in mosques are prepared by authorities to ensure no cleric strays from the official narrative – those who do are persecuted.
“Ignorance keeps people divided and frightened, believing that if the system falls, they will be crushed by one another,” says activist Al-Elimy.
Having been demonised by the Muslim Brotherhood, Fadl came under even greater pressure after Sisi came to power. His TV drama series Ahl Eskndriah was banned from airing.
“They accused me of treason, questioned my patriotism, and barred me from working,” Fadl says. “Even the drama projects I sold to producers, which were fully paid for, remain blocked from production to this day.”
In 2014, he emigrated to the US, and in 2022, he began his Youtube channel almost by accident. “I posted a conversation with a friend about his book after several networks and platforms declined to feature it. It became my first video, and the response was overwhelming.”
Encouraged, Fadl continued producing content – where he hosts his YouTube channel, reviewing books on Egyptian politics and history, and hosting conversations with scholars presenting alternative narratives of pivotal historical events in the Middle East.
Fadl believes his channel helps Egyptians develop a more nuanced understanding of complex issues. “You can criticise the Muslim Brotherhood for their political mistakes, yet still defend them against the persecution they face in Sisi’s prisons,” he says.
The power of satire
“I don’t mean to be funny, I just act naturally, and many things that happen in Egypt today can’t be taken seriously.”
Khaled Fahmy, a historian whom Fadl has invited onto his show, calls him “a storyteller and an intellectual who blends his deep knowledge of culture and history to offer a unique perspective on current events.”
But for activist Al-Elimy, it is Fadl’s knack for blending comedy with serious political analysis that makes him a formidable force against regime propaganda.
“Fear is a powerful weapon, and the dictator surrounds himself with an aura of terror. That’s why making people laugh at him is dangerous,” Al-Elimy says.
Fadl, Sabry and Ali all use humor to chip away at the regime’s intimidating facade. and bring some relief to Egyptians living under its oppression – which is so extreme, Sabry says the satire almost writes itself: “I don’t mean to be funny, I just act naturally, and many things that happen in Egypt today can’t be taken seriously.”
Joining forces
With so few Egyptians openly criticising the government, dissents who do speak out are a close-knit community, who amplify each other’s voices. Tadros has interviewed Sabry and Fadl, and says that when Fadl shared the interview on his social media channels, it drew new viewers to Cairo in Exile.
Fadl, meanwhile, often hosts opposition figures in exile, such as Hesham Sabry, Amr Waked and Mohamed Naim. And during the 2023 presidential elections, Sabry dedicated much of his content to supporting opposition candidate Ahmed Tantawi – despite being skeptical of Tantawi’s chances.
“Tantawi was the only figure from within Egypt who directly opposed the regime and presented a clear political vision,” Sabry says. Tantawi was later imprisoned on charges of electoral fraud.
In 2022, Emirati authorities arrested Egyptian ex-official and prominent YouTuber Sherif Othman. Sabry played a crucial role – through his content – in pressuring the Emirati authorities to release Othman.
Like the protests sparked by Mohamed Ali’s videos denouncing the lavish excesses of the regime, Othman’s release shows that exiled YouTubers can have a real impact on Egyptian politics.
Magdy and Mohieb both stress that appraising the full extent of their impact is hard to gauge when so few people within Egypt risk speaking out. But there are signs that Egyptians are hungry for alternative narratives. “The number of subscribers and the engagement they generate on social media demonstrate that people are listening,” Magdy says.
Fadl’s videos regularly attract millions of views – which, Moheib notes, is more than state-controlled media figures like Ahmed Mousa can hope for.
About the Author
Mostafa Amin is a freelance journalist based in Cairo. He’s using a pseudonym to avoid authorities’ backlash.
