Social media convictions apply to creators and admins, say experts

• “The person primarily responsible for the insults in these spaces is the one who launches them,” noting that “the owner of the room or the one who created it is also subject to conviction if the goal of this space is to direct the insult, unless he proves otherwise or refuses the insult when it is directed or was unaware of it,” said Dr. Ali Hussein Al-Dosari, a professor of law at Kuwait University.

• “The criminal act in cases includes the participants, but their punishment is different from the punishment of the original accused who committed the offense,” said Dr. Faisal Al-Haider, a lawyer.

Legal experts told Al-Rai newspaper that “convictions in social media spaces apply not only to the offenders but also to the administrators or creators of those spaces.”

They explained that the “re-registration of such cases happens for two reasons: either a new victim has filed a lawsuit, or new offenders have been identified who were not previously included in the conviction for the same incident in the specific space.”

In this context, Dr. Ali Hussein Al-Dosari, a professor of law at Kuwait University and a lawyer in the constitutional and cassation courts, confirmed that “the person primarily responsible for the insults in these spaces is the one who launches them,” noting that “the owner of the room or the one who created it is also subject to conviction if the goal of this space is to direct the insult, unless he proves otherwise or refuses the insult when it is directed or was unaware of it. Otherwise, he is considered in solidarity with the offender because the basis of the crime is that there is knowledge and will.”

He explained that “the new restriction on such cases comes from the fact that any person who sees himself as having an interest and has been harmed has the right to seek compensation from the one who committed the harm.”

For his part, lawyer Adnan Abel stressed that “merely being present in the discussion spaces is not a legal violation in itself; rather, legal violations are imposed on those who make offensive statements during their participation or support those statements in a manner that violates the texts of Kuwaiti law,” noting that “the issue of re-registration in such cases is done so that the one who committed the offense, and whose name was not included before, is now included.”

In the same context, lawyer Dr. Faisal Al-Haider confirmed that “the criminal act in such cases includes the participants, but their punishment is different from the punishment of the original accused who committed the offense.”