EVERY now and again, I receive calls from relatives and friends asking me to verify news they read on Twitter or in other forms of social media. It does seem that most of the news they read on social media or which they receive via SMS text messages is false. A similar scenario is played out with my expatriate friends who sometimes come across urban legends on social media with regards to new residency regulations that are “supposedly” in the process of being ratified. This raises alarm bells and indicates that we are a society that is susceptible to rumors. Such is the situation that some government departments are forced to use Twitter to deny rumors. This reminds me of the famous proverb: “It takes one match to burn a thousand trees.” What is evident is that false rumors regarding the Kingdom are widespread in the social media. The origin of these rumors seems to be outside the Kingdom with people using social media as a vehicle to promote their lies. This became very clear when Mansour Al-Turki, the spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, said earlier this year that there are over half a million Twitter accounts spreading hatred and instigating violence against Saudi Arabia and that these Twitter accounts are registered outside the Kingdom. The Kingdom's enemies use Twitter to destabilize our country and are targeting our peace and security by spreading rumors and promoting sectarianism. Al-Turki said that these people want to disrupt the Kingdom's peace and security. We have seen how our Saudi youth have been brainwashed by the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS). Through contact with Twitter, IS has managed to brainwash a good number of our youth to join its forces in Syria and Iraq—causes that our Saudi youth have nothing to do with. Those who have returned have told the Saudi authorities that Syrians, Iraqis and other foreign nationals encouraged them to join IS via Twitter. Twitter has become such a headache that our grand mufti described it earlier this year as "a source of lies and evil." He added, "If it were used correctly, it could be of real benefit, but unfortunately it's exploited for trivial matters." He also said that people use Twitter thinking it is a credible source of information when in fact it is a source of lies and falsehood. I agree with some of what he said. The actual app is not bad, but it is being abused. Though the Kingdom's enemies are using social media to harm us, we are at times indirectly helping them by misusing social media. We can see how Twitter has become a battlefield to settle scores and attack and defame one another. Twitter is also the arena used by religious scholars to attack and label each other simply because of differences in opinion over religious matters. Two famous Saudi scholars went to court earlier this year because one of them had tweeted something against the other. This is ridiculous. The authorities are cracking down on drugs and preventing smugglers from bringing narcotics into the Kingdom as drugs are harmful and ruin the youth. I believe this is no different from those who smuggle devilish thoughts into the Kingdom via social media. These ideas cannot be stopped. However, our society should be made immune and that can only be done by raising public awareness about the dangers of social media. I sometimes wonder why Twitter is not a problem in the West, whereas here in the Middle East it is a source of deep concern, especially for government officials. Could the enemies of the US and other European countries ever dream of using Twitter to divide people in their countries? Are those who use Twitter in the West receptive to rumors and do they misuse Twitter to attack each other? No one can possibly deny that Twitter is a major source of information and an excellent means of interacting with people. As journalists, we often rely on Twitter for breaking news. It is also the chosen medium for many companies and government departments to release news and attract the attention of members of the public. I believe that we have been exposed to social media, especially Twitter, too fast and without any knowledge on how to use it properly. This becomes evident when you follow discussions on Twitter. People often start labeling each other simply because they have a different view, this is especially so if the discussion is of a religious nature. If you have a different view, then there is the likelihood of being labeled. Members of the public have also recently begun to use social media to inform the authorities regarding issues and problems. The Ministry of Commerce also interacts with the public via Twitter and deals with violations brought to its attention using social media. A recent store was shut down by the ministry in less than 24 hours when a man complained that the discount prices it was advertising were not true. Likewise, the Jeddah Municipality last week urged the public to use social media, particularly Twitter, to report restaurants that failed to meet proper hygiene standards. This is the positive way that we need to see people using Twitter. — The writer can be contacted at [email protected]@saudigazette.com.sa Twitter: @anajeddawi_eng
