The world is suffering from a blatant misuse of social media, disseminating inaccurate information and highlighting vulgarities that are alien to Gulf societies, Information Minister Ali Al Romaihi said.
“Confronting social media abuses is a social responsibility that everyone, without exception, should bear by adopting a moderate discourse that shuns sedition and abuses,” the minister said as he patronised the launch of “Have only good words to say” campaign.
“Bahrain has numerous national success stories that have demonstrated the effectiveness of using social media to spread goodness, love and peace in a way that reflects our authentic Bahraini identity,” Mr Al Romaihi said.
He thanked the Bahraini youth for their active participation in the campaign organised by the ministry to raise awareness about the terrible effects of electronic bullying. He wished all people involved in the campaign success.
Leading social media users stressed the significance of raising awareness about cyber bullying on the occasion.
Omar Farooq, a social media activist, said that despite the praise for his online videos, there is a small number of people who attempt to criticise in an abusive and uncivilised manner, noting that ignoring such comments is the best solution.
Farooq called on young people to ignore negative comments and cyber bullying so that the problem does not deepen and become offensive to all parties.
“I have never considered filing a report against any of the bullies for their comments so that the issue is not given a greater dimension,” he said.
Mona Al Mutawa, a journalist and an activist on Twitter, said she appreciated the efforts of the Information Affairs Ministry in presenting a burning issue – cyber bullying.
“The campaign should be expanded through co-operation among the ministries of information and competent authorities in the GCC,” she said.
“This will help protect the Gulf community from online abuses that negatively impact public opinion and mislead people with fabrications and lies that affront individuals and societies.”
Salah Abdulmajeed, a short film maker, said that he was pleased to be part of the ministry’s campaign.
“Cyberbullying is a phenomenon that some people tend to magnify,” he said.
“Our advice is not to respond to abusers and to focus instead on creative work to serve the community.
“The aim of the bullies is to disrupt creativity and to unsettle people keen on it.”
The campaign seeks to highlight the impact of words on people and society and is part of the ministry’s responsibility as a platform for the national media to raise awareness and spread right practices that serve the community, especially in light of increase in the number of bullying cases and spread of rumours without checking their validity.
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