This week, Queen Rania was in Dubai for the Arab Social Media Influencers Summit. The Jordanian Royal has been active on social media for the past decade, and regularly posts about her philanthropic work and Royal life.
At the summit, HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai awarded the Jordanian Royal with the prestigious Influential Personality of the Year Award.
At the third annual summit Queen Rania gave a keynote speech, addressing an audience of over 1,000 social media influencers, urging them to speak up and use their voice and platform wisely, even at the risk of not earning them enough likes and shares.
“I come to you — the influential and those whose voices are heard, to urge you to use your time to break barriers, open channels of dialogue, and mobilise support for those who need it most. I urge you to champion the truth and to communicate with values. Be good to others as the simplest expression of our humanity is a kind word.”
She tackled several issues during her speech, one of which is the fake news epidemic that has taken over the internet. “In the virtual world, we can see the place for truth declining in the face of emotional discussions and scandalous rumors. Do we blame the tool and absolve ourselves — as users and influencers — of the responsibility?” asked Queen Rania.
Widespread use of the internet and easy access to information has changed the way social media is used, and has led to a surge of information, some of which could be inaccurate. Therefore, Queen Rania insisted that as users, we “owe a right to the truth by finding and spreading it.”
Queen Rania is an avid social media user, with 5 million followers on Instagram, and 10.5 million followers on Twitter, which she has used to share her speech from the summit.