Saudi Arabia has cracked down on 9,000 Twitter accounts after claiming that they were tweeting 'pornography'.
The conservative government used 'ethical hackers' to track down people behind the accounts, many of whom have been arrested.
The Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, also known as Haia, regarded as the religious police and enforcers of the Islamic Law, have shut thousands of accounts on the micro-blogging platform after announcing the crackdown last February.
"They (Haia) have succeeded in hacking Twitter porno accounts, shutting them and arresting some of their owners over the past period," a Committee spokesperson told Emirates 24/7.
The kingdom has been heavily cracking down on pornography, blocking more than four lakh websites allegedly containing pornographic material in 2013. In 2014, the committee shut down more than 10,000 accounts citing 'religious and ethical violations'.
The guilty are slapped with a jail term of up to five years or a huge fine of almost $8,00,000.
The religious police have also arrested several people for other 'vices' such as gambling and 'booze parties', the Dubai-based Emirates 24/7 reported.
