Islamist group creates new Facebook version

Islamist group creates new Facebook version

The main Egyptian opposition movement has set up its version of a social networking website, loosely based on Facebook.

‘Ikhwanbook’ looks similar to the hugely popular US site, but its creators, the Muslim Brotherhood, say it has a greater respect for Islamic values.

The BBC reports that Ikhwanbook with ‘ikhwan’ being Arabic for brother uses fewer photographs and involves a lower level of intrusion into the personal lives of its members. 

The Muslim Brotherhood is banned in Egypt, and the new website is one of the few channels of communication left open to the group.

So far, the site has only been operating on a trial basis for a months, but the Brotherhood say that a full launch could be on the cards at a later date.

The BBC said that some users of Ikhwanbook were concerned that the government could identify them as members of the banned group via their presence on the site.

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