The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has released its second SafeSurf Bahrain Newsletter on the abuse of social media, through which TRA encourages users of social media such as BlackBerry Messenger, Facebook and Twitter to refrain from posting, forwarding or reTweeting messages that are untrue, or of an extreme nature, violent or pornographic.
“It has been brought to our attention that video clips taken on mobile phones during the last couple of months of extreme violence have been broadcasted using social media,” said TRA’s ICT Director, Ahmed Al Doseri while commenting on the latest newsletter.
“The SafeSurf Bahrain team wants to ensure that users of social networking media are conscious of not just the positive benefits of being able to keep in-touch but also the simple facts that not everything you read online is true. Unlike reputable journalism that attempts to verify its content prior to broadcasting or publication this is not necessarily the case when individuals broadcast messages. Likewise reputable journalism operates under a code of ethics that protects the reader or viewer from images of an extreme nature including images of extreme violence or pornography,” TRA in a statement said.
“These video clips have been viewed by minors, as users of the internet and social media we have a duty to protect the young and the innocent,” Aldoseri said.
Nick Truman, TRA’s internet safety advisor stressed the need for constraint before passing on, forwarding or reTweeting information that cannot be substantiated or is just gossip. Such information does nobody any good; it can be misinterpreted as hostile or bullying in nature. Think twice before you post information, and think twice before you pass on 2nd hand information that is not based on fact and cannot be proved.
The SafeSurf Bahrain initiative has been established to help make sure that everyone in Bahrain is able to enjoy the resources available over the Internet and help users better understand how to use these resources responsibly. As such to prevent the irresponsible broadcast of messages that distort, corrupt or fabricate the truth and potentially endanger the safety and security of others we all have a duty to make sure that what we say is factually correct. Furthermore when sending links to images or video content we need to think about who could potentially be viewing this content and whether or not it is appropriate or necessary.