Maha Al-Shehri

Okaz newspaper

The business of selling illusion is an open market that sells different products, including those promoted by some who claim to be experts in beauty, nutrition, medicine, economy, psychology and many other fields. This is widespread in social media because it provides a large audience in which those who are selling illusion can make profit, taking advantage of people’s need to find a solution to their problems.

We may acquire a lot of knowledge based on our experience in life. However, this acquired knowledge does not necessarily qualify us to market it without reference to those who are experts. Basic acquired knowledge does not make a person a specialist who is capable of giving advice to people about something that he learned about through experience but in which he is not professionally trained and qualified.

People should acquire information from a specialist who is trustworthy and not from someone who claims to know about it from experience. This applies to the activity we see in the virtual world, which takes place without any supervision or organization. It is important to create organized websites for people to access when they need the advice of those who are qualified experts. Such websites and the services they provide should be carefully monitored for the protection of society.