Shahd Alhamdan

Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — Social media, of late, has been instrumental in spreading rumors, fabricated stories and reports. Many social media users in the Kingdom depend on these platforms as sources of authentic and accurate reports, but they are disappointed to find out that what they initially believed had no truth in it.



This Sunday, report of a new oilfield in Al-Qassim spread on social media. In response, Saudi Aramco quickly posted a clarification, rejecting the report and termed is a rumor.



A recent hashtag on Twitter, pertaining to a report about a Saudi woman being beaten up at a Turkish airport by police, caused outrage on social media before there was any official response or clarification from the authorities. Another created hashtag was connected to a similar report about a Saudi man also beaten by Turkish police at an airport. Both reports were false; newspapers carried a different story saying that the Saudi woman in question was not beaten up.



Recently, social media was replete with images and reports of a Pakistani man arrested for allegedly selling his urine as ca urine. According to one Twitter account, Body Counter Rumors, the man in the images was in fact a suspect accused of murder in the Philippines.



The same account also clarified that a video on social media about a meteorite hitting the earth in Sakaka province was also fabricated. According to a report attached with the video, a Saudi woman died after a meteorite hit her, but Body Counter Rumors showed that the video is actually of a controlled fire in Jandal governorate.



Over a year ago, Saudi health sources used an account on Twitter to inform the public that there were been no Middle East Respiratory Syndrome cases in Hail hospitals.



Speaking to Saudi Gazette, Waleed Samoum, who hosts Tag on Saudi radio station Alif Alif, explained that some people spread fabricated reports on social media because they want to get attention online, to become well-known, to draw more traffic to their account, and become a trusted resource by any means. Fake news can be a way to get such exposure.



Samoum said that social media itself spreads fabricated reports, and can stop people from hearing mainstream news sources, which are often the ones alerting people to the fabricated reprots. He added that social education is another reason for having traditional news sources, as there are several groups — conservatives, liberals, and others — fighting each other online.