Saudi Arabia has reportedly used Elon Musk’s social media platform X, formally Twitter to prosecute people expressing their dissent over the government, using tweets as evidence to sentence some citizens to death. A lawsuit filed earlier in 2023 alleges Twitter helped the Saudi government send its citizens to prison over anti-government rhetoric that they posted online.
Allegations added to the lawsuit outline ties between Saudi Arabia and Twitter under former CEO Jack Dorsey. The lawsuit was first filed back in May.
Allegations in the lawsuit stem from incidents that occurred prior to Musk taking over the company.
The lawsuit was filed by Areej al-Sadhan, the sister of a man who was “disappeared” by the government and later sentenced to 20 years in prison based on tweets he made that were critical of the government.
The lawsuit accuses Twitter of helping Saudi Arabia spy on and track down those who spread dissent online. In the lawsuit, al-Sadhan alleges Twitter assisted the efforts by oversharing users’ personal data at the Saudi government’s request.
Twitter works with the governments of the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. However, according to the lawsuit, Twitter discloses more data at a much higher rate to Saudi Arabia.
The lawsuit alleges Twitter did little to prevent a Saudi operative who worked for Twitter in 2014 from outing anti-government users to officials. That operative was convicted in 2022 in an espionage scandal that went on for years. It’s unknown how many Saudis the operative turned in.
The lawsuit alleges Twitter has a blind spot for Saudi Arabia given its complicated ties to the wealthy nation. A Saudi prince purchased a massive stake in the company years ago, well before Musk took over, which has grown over the years.
That prince now owns the second most shares of Twitter. His stake is worth about $2 billion.
While the allegations in the suit stem back years, the Saudi government is reportedly still using the platform to prosecute citizens. A human rights watch group recently reported a man was sentenced to die based on tweets, retweets and YouTube activity.