Major General Mansour Al-Turki.

A committee comprising three government agencies is looking into all complaints and reports submitted by citizens through social media or by telephone about online accounts promoting extremist messages and inciting sedition.

This is according to Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki, spokesman of the Interior Ministry, who said the committee includes representatives from the Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecution and the Communications and Information Technology Commission, a local publication reported Wednesday.

According to the regulations, violators face punishment of up to 10 years in jail and fines of up to SR5 million. Article 9 of the regulations stipulates penalties “apply to all those who incite, assist, arrange, or participate in any offenses set forth in the regulations.” The same penalties also apply to those who set up sites for terrorist groups on the Internet or promote such sites and their mission, including raising funds. This is also the case, in Article 7, for those who publish information about the making of bombs, or messages that can harm the nation’s security.

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