Khalid Al-Sulaiman

Okaz newspaper

FABRICATED media is no longer a permissible phenomenon within the Saudi society and its people. There is now a social media army of Saudis with high awareness who dedicate their time to refute rumors and post the original videos negating some viral and fabricated ones. The last one of these videos was of the security officer who was eulogizing Almighty Allah through a speaker phone. Another fabricated video went viral where a different soundtrack of a man spewing offensive comments against the pilgrims was merged into the video to make it seem like the security officer was the one saying these comments.

Such fabrications used to be spread around through social media and WhatsApp but Saudi social media users have become more aware and have refrained from spreading unfounded rumors. Even if there isn’t an official entity or even volunteers tackling these rumors, it has become the responsibility of every social media user to filter out unfounded information.

There is also a responsibility on the receivers of these messages and posts. They are now more aware of the legal ramifications of spreading unfounded rumors. Saudis today are able to protect their country’s cyber borders.