Bahrain steps up fight against social media abuse

MANAMA, March 25 (Xinhua) -- Bahrain announced tough measures against social media accounts that "spread malicious rumors" under the guise of the Royal Court.

Interior Minister Shaikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa noted on Sunday steps to deal with unprecedented chaos by disruptive social media accounts.

"Such accounts spread malicious rumors that went against social harmony and civil peace," the minister said, adding that security authorities would tackle any offence against national and traditional values.

"Some disruptive social media accounts claimed they were run by the Royal Court while it had been proved they were operated through malicious websites and had no links with the Royal Court or any other official organization in Bahrain," he added.

He said the Royal Court is an official authority that supervises all constitutional organizations in the kingdom.

The minister said the operators of some of those accounts were identified and others would continue to be pursued. "We won't be far from tracking them down and taking legal action against them even if we need to draft new legislation to tackle the latest developments in such crimes."

The interior minister said there would be a follow-up and steps would be taken to make them accountable in accordance with the law to stop their violations.

Following the announcement, Chief Prosecutor of the city of Muharraq Hussain Khamis said the public prosecution had launched an investigation into misusing social media networks by a suspect who posted defamatory tweets. Enditem