Wael Ghonim, the 30-year-old Google executive who became the face of the people's revolution in Egypt, was interviewed on CBS' “60 Minutes.”
Ghonim told CBS News correspondent Harry Smith:
If there was no social networks, it would have never been sparked. Because the whole thing before the revolution was the most critical thing. Without Facebook, without Twitter, without Google, without YouTube, this would have never happened
He said pulling the kill switch on the Internet backfired big time:
Block the whole Internet, you're gonna really frustrate people. One of the strategic mistakes of this regime was blocking Facebook. One of the reasons why they are no longer in power now is that they blocked Facebook. Why? Because they have told four million people that they are scared like hell from the revolution by blocking Facebook. They forced everyone who's just, you know, waiting to read the news on Facebook, they forced them to go to the street to be part of this. So really, like, if I want to thank one, thank anyone for all of this, I would thank our stupid regime.
Ghonim's message to any autocratic leader who might be watching:
He should freak out. He seriously should freak out.
