360,000 Daesh social media accounts closed

RIYADH — Authorities have closed nearly 360,000 accounts of Daesh (the so-called IS) terror organization on social media, according to Abdul Rahman Saeed Al-Shahri, founder of TweetSo Team. “Daesh circulate about 130,000 messages daily on social media to spread chaos and confusion in society,” Al-Shahri told Al-Madina Arabic daily. He, however, said the terror group’s propaganda machine has collapsed and its output has been reduced by 75 percent in a year. “Some agencies exploit the huge presence of Saudis on social media especially Twitter, which is one of the most influential media tools in the Kingdom,” A-Shahri said. He said fake social media accounts and messages are created in the name of Saudis or the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Haia) in order to provoke citizens and create conflicts. “It’s not unknown to them that the Saudi society is conservative and religious by nature. They exploit this factor and spread messages filled with Qur’anic verses and sayings of the Prophet (peace be upon him) to win people’s sympathy and support,” he added. “There are other accounts that are operated automatically to spread misleading messages using hashtags,” he explained. Terror groups also enlist their accounts in trends using scripts and special programs in order to win more followers and comments. Speaking about punishments for those who create social media accounts for terror groups, Al-Shahri said violators of the cyber crimes law will be sentenced to 10-year jail and fined up to SR5 million or either of the punishment. “People will also be questioned for forwarding messages published on these terror sites,” he said. Most hackers in the Kingdom attack government websites, Al-Shahri said. TweetSo Team was established by Al-Shahri to create cyber security awareness among people and save them from hackers who blackmail their victims.