Egypt turned off Facebook's free Internet service in December 2015 because the country's government could not spy on the browsing activities of citizens using the service, according to Reuters.
Facebook's Free Basics, an effort to extend Internet access to the developing world, launched in Egypt in October and was suspended Dec. 30. Reuters said it talked to "two sources with direct knowledge of discussions between Facebook and the Egyptian government," who said that "Free Basics was blocked because the company would not allow the government to circumvent the service's security to conduct surveillance."
It's unclear what surveillance access the Egyptian government asked of Facebook. A spokesperson from Egypt's ministry of communication said only that Free Basics was blocked because it presented unfair competition for existing Internet service providers.
"The service was offered free of charge to the consumer, and the national telecommunication regulator saw the service as harmful to companies and their competitors," Mohamed Hanafi told Reuters.
Free Basics has met with several objections from other countries in addition to Egypt as it seeks to expand in the developing world. India banned the service in February following concerns that it infringed on net neutrality.
It has also raised piracy concerns in Angola, where some users have found a way to share copyrighted content by uploading it to Wikimedia via a Free Basics connection on their mobile phones.
Still, Facebook is pushing ahead with its expansion plans for the service. It is investing in mapping technology to find isolated settlements without Internet. The company has also been conducting test flights of a high-altitude drone that will beam signals to the most remote areas.