Social networking sites face heat

The Peninsula Newspapers Wednesday, 16 May 2012 04:53 The famous phrase of the French philosopher Rene Descartes, from the seventeenth century, “I think, therefore I am”, was cited many times even in the twenty-first century: “I am in Google, therefore I exist”, and today “I have an account in Twitter and Facebook, therefore I exist”. The entire Arab world has been very interested in the new media tools or social networking sites which contribute to change and give access to the sidelined voices. Though new media tools have no longer become luxuries and are of great importance to many young Arab people, but the road is not yet paved for them to enjoy this technological revolution! The diverse and growing reports published on the new media revolution in the Arab world point out the unprecedented growing numbers of tweeters. The young generation used to set up specialised pages tackling most of the Arab community issues and produce documentary films criticising officials, politicians, religious authorities, intellectuals and even media persons. Facebook, which is set to enter the US stock market soon, gave the following figures: the number of users had reached 901 million, increasing by up to 33 percent from last year, number of daily clicks and comments is to the tune of 3.2 billion times every day, about 300 million photos are uploaded per day, and around 526 million people use the website every day. Saudi Arabia topped the Middle East countries in term of Facebook users by more than 4.5 million users, according to the latest survey released by the Global Internet Statistics Site. Saudi Arabia topped the number of Facebook users in all Arab countries, including the countries which have a population of 70 million people. The UAE ranked second and Jordan third. The survey by “Omnicom Group,” a specialised marketing company, pointed out a significant increase in accessing the social networking sites. Some 86 percent of those polled in Saudi Arabia said they prefer Facebook, followed by chat rooms and e-mail websites. About 49 percent of respondents said they cannot live without browsing Facebook. A group of Saudi girls use the social networking sites, especially Twitter and Facebook to find a life partner, due to high rates of spinsterhood. Hence the social networking sites have become matchmakers. The road of new media tools is yet full of hurtful and painful thorns that have acted against transformation and change. The ‘Syrian E-Army’ group tops the scene of sabotage and corruption by launching a series of cyber attacks that paralysed the ability of ‘Al Arabiya’ news channel to control the platforms of its social networking sites. It also targeted Aljazeera and other media networks, especially the electronic press and famous Arab social networking sites, which allow opposition groups to express their views. The ‘Syrian E-Army’ group has entirely controlled the page of Al Arabiya network on Facebook, and on Youtube, and a number of its accounts on Twitter. The pirated account of Al-Arabiya’s breaking news broadcast false information spreading rumors on a rift inside the Qatari government and an explosion in a gas field. The pirates declared their war against all mass media that are “distorting the facts about what is going on in Syria” including Qatar-based Aljazeera channel which was attacked many times by the Syrian E-Army. A report by Al-Hayat newspaper mentioned that the Website of Harvard University was targeted and a picture of the Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad in his military uniform was left on the front page. The open war that seeks to destroy any attempt to make change continues on Twitter and Facebook under different names and bodies. Facebook has canceled about 150 pages related to the Syrian E-Army, but some of those pages have been re-opened under different names. Religion and people’s inherent beliefs are involved and exploited to combat new media tools. Tehran comes on top of the list that uses monitoring devices to block Facebook, Gmail and foreign news sites. According to the Sunday Telegraph when users try to access Facebook via normal browsing of the internet they will be directed to a familiar page in Iran before. This page proposes a set of sites approved by the government, which the users may wish to browse instead of Facebook, led by a Holy Quran e-website. The page says the blocked sites are criminal and violate “Islamic sanctities” or insult the government officials. The Iranian internet police issued new laws to be followed by the owners of internet cafes consisting of 20 points giving a deadline of 15 days to the cafes to install surveillance cameras and collect detailed personal information of customers. A new report issued by “Reporters without Borders” organisation said “Iran’s strict repression has become more brutal”. The organisation called the Islamic Republic of Iran as the “enemy of Internet”. The bulletin entitled “Contemporary Middle East Overview” said the death sentences issued against bloggers and journalists, arrest campaigns and severe restrictions on the social interaction networks and the increasing effectiveness of “firewalls” under State control, provided Iran with strict means to control the internet and impose censorship on social networks. The establishment of the Supreme Council of cyberspace by Iran to monitor the Internet and the “Iran cyber army”, a group of hackers and bloggers backed by the government, composed of more than 100,000 members is very shocking. This ugly scenario is not far from the Arab world and might be repeated in some Arab countries, including those which were liberated from the grip of military dictatorship. These countries might fall into the hands of dictators, who hold the religious rosary and fight against new media tools which helped them gain access to power!