UAE’s TRA To Verify Official Government Twitter Accounts

The UAE’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has launched a new campaign to verify the official Twitter accounts of all UAE government entities.

The step is aimed at providing authenticated and reliable sources of news and information to the public and guarantee the legitimacy of online government entity accounts, the authority said in a statement.

Hamad Obaid Al Mansoori, TRA deputy director general and mGovernment director said, “We recognize the importance of social media and its increasing role in the instantaneous provision of news and information to the public. The strengths of social media include flexibility and convenience of access thus, allowing everybody to participate in topical discussion and publish opinion.

“It is critical that government authorities and institutions have verified Twitter accounts to provide a publically trusted source of information,” he said.

“Social media experts working closely with us have been in constant communication with Twitter’s website management team to ensure that all verified government entity Twitter accounts bear the blue verified badge “√” on its profile,” he added.

Governmental entities and the country’s leaders are ramping up their presence on social networks such as Twitter.

Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum was recently ranked seventh among world leaders using Twitter, in an annual ranking conducted by The Digital Policy Council.

Sheikh Mohammed, also the UAE’s PM and vice president, jumped up three spots from the 2012 ranking, and currently has over 2.5 million followers.