Viral videos capturing a Saudi-based Somali mother horrifically abusing her two 10-month-old daughters sparked outrage in Saudi Arabia earlier this week. This came just hours after they started circulating on Twitter on Tuesday. 

The clips, which were filmed by the abuser herself, show the girls being slapped and dropped from heights. 

One of the two victims is also seen being choked by the abusive woman, who is heard saying she'll "kill the child."

*The videos are available online but we choose not to share such graphic content in line with ethical standards.

As the videos made the rounds online, hundreds reported them to the kingdom's Ministry of Labor and Social Development, urging officials to take action. 

In an immediate response, the ministry's spokesman, Khalid Aba Al Khail, sent out a tweet telling people that concerned authorities were made aware of the incident and launched a search for the girls.

In his tweet, Aba Al Khail also urged tweeps who have any information on the location of the victims to come forward.

After officials called on people to help to locate the twin girls, the man, who originally posted videos capturing their torture, came forth. 

Now identified as Mohanad Al Hashdi, the Yemeni citizen who knows the girls' father posted the clips calling on authorities to save them. 

Hashdi also shared details of the incident, explaining that the abusive mother, a Somali national living in Saudi Arabia, was divorced from the girls' father and upset that he was not financially supporting them. 

She reportedly "took the videos of herself torturing the babies" to send to her ex-husband's father "in Yemen so he can push him to send her money." The grandfather then contacted Hashdi asking for help because he wasn't able to travel to the kingdom to save the girls. 

Authorities were able to locate and save the girls after the man contacted them via a hotline designated to help victims of domestic violence. According to Gulf News, "the twins were hospitalized by the ministry and later released after checkups." They have since been handed over to relatives of their father. 

On Sunday, Egypt's parliament passed a controversial law that gives the state the right to regulate social media "influencers."

Under the controversial law, the state can regulate the accounts - private or public - of users with more than 5,000 followers. The state considers these pages as "media outlets," and are therefore subject to the country's media laws, according to BBC.

A number of "popular accounts" on various social media platforms, including Facebook and Twitter, are now under the direct supervision of the Supreme Council for the Administration of the Media. 

"Since this new legislation goes hand in hand with a wave of arrests of journalists that openly target media workers who collaborate with opposition media, it is a clear attempt at ensuring only the official version of current affairs appear in the media," Sophie Anmuth, who works with Reporters Without Borders, told a media outlet.

The law also gives the country's media regulator the legal right to block websites and file complaints against those who "incite people to violate laws." People who defame religion or other individuals are also subject to risk.

Prior to the passing of the controversial law, rights groups warned that this would increase censorship in the country.

"These proposed laws would increase the Egyptian government's already broad powers to monitor, censor and block social media and blogs, as well as criminalize content that violates vaguely defined political, social or religious norms," said Najia Bounaim, Director of Campaigns in North Africa at Amnesty International.

One provision, which would've "allowed pre-trial detentions of journalists was amended after pressure from the journalists' syndicate," according to BBC.

Earlier this year, Egyptian authorities arrested a number of journalists, bloggers, and activists in a continued crackdown on the independent press within the country.

Among those detained was Wael Abbas, a high-profile Egyptian journalist, campaigner, and blogger-in-chief for the website Misr Digit@l. He was allegedly blindfolded and arrested by security forces who raided his home.

In 2016, Abbas' Twitter account was suspended - and still is - for reasons that were not made clear at the time.

According to The Guardian, the suspension involved the deletion of "over 250,000 tweets, dozens of thousands of pictures, videos and live streams from the middle of every crisis in Egypt with a date stamp on them, reporting on people who got tortured, were killed or went missing."

Writers, especially journalists, have been at the forefront of the crackdown. 

In 2016, 40 armed members of the National Security Agency attacked journalists at the Press Syndicate, the first time since it was established in 1941. Amnesty International called it "the most brazen attack on the media" in Egypt in decades. 

In 2015, a CPJ-conducted census found that Egyptian authorities were holding at least 19 journalists behind bars for their work. 

This is the highest number in the country since the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) began recording data on imprisoned journalists in 1990, and the third highest of any country in the world.

In May, Egyptian authorities arrested three bloggers, including Shadi Abu Zeid, whose satirical videos have gained wide popularity in the country. 

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) called on Egyptian authorities and demanded it reevaluates its definition of terrorism.

"Not to confuse disrespect with terrorism," RSF wrote. 

According to BBC Arabic, Abu Zeid was arrested on charges of "spreading false news" and "joining a banned group."

Soon after Abu Zeid's arrest, the CPJ expressed concern over the vlogger's detention.

Egypt's constitution, drafted in 2014, explicitly guarantees freedom of artistic and literary creation, freedom of thought and opinion, and freedom of the press. 

Article 67 forbids the jailing of artists and writers for publishing their work.

"Every person shall have the right to express his/her opinion verbally, in writing, through imagery, or by any other means of expression and publication," the constitution clearly states.

However, many have gone against the constitution with the enforcement of other laws, including Article 178 of the penal code, which criminalizes content that violates public morals.