Oct 24th 2019CAIROTHEIR GRIEVANCES are almost too many to list: electricity shortages, undrinkable water, collapsing infrastructure, a poisoned environment. The economy is stagnant and corruption is rife (see chart). But it was WhatsApp that finally pushed the people of Lebanon to the breaking-point. Since October 17th many have joined a spontaneous outburst of anger at a fossilised political class. By some estimates more than 1m people have come out to demonstrate, in a country with fewer than 5m citizens. These are Lebanon’s largest protests in almost 15 years.The unrest began after the government proposed to tax calls made via WhatsApp, a messaging service. This is less trivial than it sounds. Lebanon’s state-owned telecoms sector is notorious for its high prices. A report from 2017 by the economy ministry found that local calls are five times more expensive than in Jordan and 20 times more than Egypt. Many Lebanese rely on WhatsApp to keep in touch, both at home and with a far-flung diaspora.Choose us for news analysis that respects your time and intelligenceSubscribe to The EconomistWe filter out the noise of the daily news cycle and analyse the trends that matterWe give you rigorous, deeply researched and fact-checked journalism. That’s why Americans named us their most trusted news source in 2017Available wherever you are—in print, digital and, uniquely, in audio, fully narrated by professional broadcastersThis website adheres to all nine of NewsGuard‘s standards of credibility and transparency.ORContinue reading this articleRegister with an email address