Many important news and tweets broadcast by institutions specialized in providing services are subject to distortion by three types of personalities: the first republishes it wrongly, but with good intentions, i.e. without intending to cause harm to anyone, and the second is a seeker of fame by provoking curiosity. Followers, and the third sick with hatred for society.
The concerned authorities stress that data and details must be obtained from the source of the information and the service provider in order to avoid loss.
In detail, recent times have witnessed an increase in the rate of changing the information that deals with the details of launching a particular service, the most prominent of which is the claim of some activists on social media that there are profits distributed daily by Salik, and the percentage of that information is for public figures and officials related to the company, while That this information and tweets were not issued by those personalities, but they took advantage of the fact that the company provided an opportunity for members of society to buy shares in it, so they deceived the followers and misled them with information from the company officials.
The most dangerous and harmful misinformation regarding Salik’s services was the impersonation of the company’s identity by targeting its customers with fake messages containing links leading them to pay violations issued against them.
Another example related to road services illustrates the extent of the harm caused to the beneficiaries of the services, as some activists on social media misrepresented the information related to the provision of the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) to obtain a driver’s license without having to undergo practical lessons, provided that they pass the practical exam, for people who hold a license. Driving from countries that are not included in the list of countries whose individuals are allowed to exchange their licenses according to agreements concluded with the UAE.
The distortion of the information reached the point of claiming that the value of the fees required to issue the license, which the Authority called the “Golden License”, amounts to 7,000 dirhams, at a time when the value of those fees does not exceed the cost recognized in the law for issuing the regular license.
For his part, the consultant psychiatrist, Dr. Nader Yaghi, explained that there are three types of personalities behind the spread of misinformation, whether intentionally or unintentionally.
Yaghi said that these people represent press releases or tweets issued by official authorities as a target and fertile soil for converting them into incorrect materials and information, which they publish very quickly and through all their channels and means.
He referred to the first type of those personalities who receive a picture or information, and do not investigate it, adding that some of them are individuals he knows personally who have been subjected to legal accountability as a result of their wrong behavior.
He stressed that this type represents a normal personality and does not want to harm others, but he likes to have exclusive information that he tells people, so he, for example, addresses them categorically that he has certain information about a two-day reduction in the payment of violations, for example.
And he continued that this person does this without any knowledge or awareness, so he transmits it in an incorrect way because he did not investigate its authenticity, stressing that “this type does not have any purposes or intent to harm, but rather its only concern is to appear that it is distinguished and important, and that information reaches it faster than others.”
Yaghi explained that the second type of characters changes the content of the news or alters a letter or word, and then changes all the meaning and purpose of the news, stressing that this type wants to have the largest number of followers and be among the influencers through social media, so it does so by publishing the news. And wrong information so that people ask them and send inquiries to them, as they deliberately do not indicate the source of the news in order to push people to communicate with him so that he feels that he is important and that people need him.
As for the third type, Yaghi confirmed that he is the most dangerous of them “because he is a deliberate promoter of the rumor,” explaining that “some of them are motivated by a buried hatred against society, a certain nationality, or a particular country, so he deliberately publishes distorted, distorted, and incorrect information, and changes its meanings, so as to arouse resentment and resentment as a result. A defect in his thinking and feelings makes him reject society and does not want it to be good.
