Saleh Fareed

Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — Activists, journalists, preachers, academics and a large number of concerned authoritative figures have taken a decisive action recently on social media platforms by calling to block the so-called social celebrities because of their “bad influence” ruining the youth. The social media campaign has since then gained steam with thousands of tweets in the last two weeks. Mashari Althaydi, a writer and blogger, in his recent column termed the trend as dangerous. He said: “The more dangerous aspect is about the future of values which govern logic and reasoning. Who is supposed to lead who and upon what basis? How do families, schools and people in general maintain the glue of values that hold the society together?” He added: “They went as far as claiming that if it hadn’t been for their Twitter activity, the lives of the people would not have changed for the better. Frankly speaking, some official parties and major companies helped turn these people into “stars” and “symbols” by pumping millions into their bank accounts in exchange of making few tweets or snapchat stories.” Instead of being captivated by true talent, today’s society is drawn to the opposite approach where “celebrities” are portraying unrealistic life