The office of the president has filed lawsuits against two media outlets for allegedly publishing inaccurate information about President Mohamed Morsi, Morsi spokesman Yasser Ali stated on Tuesday.

Ali declined to divulge the names of the two media outlets in question.

"There is such a thing as freedom of expression, but this also requires accuracy in the dissemination of information," the presidential spokesman said.

False news about Egypt's new president to have circulated recently include reports that Morsi visited the Hamas-run Gaza Strip last week and that he had allowed Chinese ships to cross the Suez Canal to deliver arms to Syria's beleaguered Assad regime.

Ali stressed that, while Morsi supported the notion of freedom of speech, his decision to press charges was based on the fact that false news currently circulating about him was sowing confusion among the public. 

Several Egyptian journalists have been found guilty of libel in recent years, for which some were forced to pay large monetary fines. 

The Muslim Brotherhood, of which Morsi was a long-time member before his election to the presidency in June, filed a similar lawsuit on Tuesday against Egypt's information minister, the head of the Egyptian Radio and Television Union (ERTU), the head of the ERTU's news department, and the CEO of Egypt's Rose Al-Youssef newspaper, all of whom have been accused by the Brotherhood of circulating false information about the group.