Social media videos present new ways to detect abuses

DIRTY DEED: A man can be seen pouring dirty water inside a mosque in this video. (AN photo)

JEDDAH: Social media has highlighted the misdeeds of some people who carelessly post videos of their deplorable actions online.
These videos also provide information for authorities to identify the culprits and arrest them in a short period of time.
One of the latest videos showed a man pouring a bottle containing dirty water at King Fahd Mosque in Tabuk. This video has created an uproar among social media usetrs over despicable act in a place where prayers are held. This story concluded with a statement by the Tabuk police saying that security authorities in the region had detained the person who appeared in the video.
Other videos contributed in revealing violations such as a video of a company’s bid to market housemaids by displaying them at a mall in Dhahran. The Ministry of Labor and Social Development immediately reacted to this video and launched an investigation into this incident.
“Social media can monitor violations of people and prove their mistakes. These videos also create public opinion in society against violations made by anyone. Government bodies and the security authorities took urgent measures to arrest the persons who have appeared in this video and committed violations. But the good point is that these videos helped the security authorities identify persons who committed the violations,” Bayan Zahran, a female Saudi lawyer, told Arab News.
Domestic violence among family members also took its share of trending social media videos. This kind of videos also caused government social welfare units to take attention and give protection to children and women who were abused by their parents and husbands.
“The National Society for Human Rights and many activists benefited from these videos in moving to take urgent steps to rescue victims of family violence or others violations of human rights. These videos could reduce the rate of violations in Saudi society as they are the new eye which could monitor and deter people who are thinking of making repeating abuses,” Maatoq Al-Sharief, a human right activist, told Arab News.