According to ALQST, a human rights group based in London, more than 60 accounts of Saudi activists, scholars, and critics have been made inaccessible inside the country since mid-July. This action was carried out by X, the social media platform previously known as Twitter. The company used a method called geoblocking, which keeps content from being viewed in certain geographic areas.
A growing trend of suppression
Earlier this year, Snapchat and Meta had already responded to Saudi authorities by blocking the accounts of local dissidents. At that time, X stated it had not taken action against the users in response to government demands. However, by July, the company had changed course and started complying with the requests. It informed users through email that their content was being withheld in accordance with Saudi law.
The list also includes exiled activists, academic scholars, and independent journalists. Importantly, none of the account holders were told their posts violated the platform’s own policies or rules.
Activists call the move a betrayal
Abdullah Alaoudh expressed frustration, saying, “We fought against tyrants in our homeland, and now we’re up against those same tyrants and their allies abroad.” In his role as a senior policy adviser for the American Committee for Middle East Rights, he described the blocking as a form of censorship.
Abdullah Aljuraywi, an officer at ALQST whose own account was blocked, said the outcome was not a surprise. He explained, “The Saudi authorities have a long history of suppressing dissent. Now, tech firms are enabling their efforts.”
A major impact on a satirical voice
Ghanem al-Masarir, a well-known Saudi satirist with over 800,000 followers across his accounts, also faced a blocking order. In May, YouTube informed him that two of his channels would be taken down in the kingdom. This was after a complaint was filed by an entity linked to the government. By July, X had sent al-Masarir a notice saying his content was no longer accessible in Saudi Arabia under the country’s legal rules.
Al-Masarir remarked, “I was not shocked the Saudi government asked to block my content. What startled me was Elon Musk’s compliance.” He warned that such actions by the platform may inspire other authoritarian regimes to push for similar measures.
In response to the allegations, the affected users were sent emails from X stating that their content had been withheld to meet the company’s legal responsibilities under Saudi law. A decree, shared with the Guardian, cited the users for distributing material that allegedly undermined public order, religious beliefs, public morals, and the sanctity of private life.
ALQST has urged X, Meta, Snapchat, and YouTube to restore access to the affected accounts. It also called for greater transparency about how such decisions are made. In past statements to the Guardian, Meta explained that when it receives claims that content violates local law—though not necessarily its own guidelines—the company may limit access to that material in the relevant country.
Requests for comment have been made to both X and the Saudi embassy in London, but no responses have been received. The blocking of content in the country by major social media companies continues to draw criticism, with many seeing it as a failure to uphold the free expression principles these companies often emphasize.