"The undersigned organisations condemn Meta’s recent decision to restrict the Facebook and Instagram accounts of independent NGOs, researchers, and civil society figures from reaching audiences in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This is the latest in a pattern of major technology companies, including Meta, acting as enforcement arms for repressive governments in the Gulf. We call on Meta to uphold its human rights responsibilities and ensure that users’ content is not arbitrarily restricted.

Since 30 April 2026, Gulf-focused NGOs ALQST for Human Rights and Democratic Diwan, as well as Saudi researcher Abdullah Alaoudh and human rights defender Yahya Assiri, have had their Facebook accounts rendered “unavailable” in Saudi Arabia at the request of the Saudi government, in a form of “geo-blocking”. Similar restrictions have been imposed in the UAE, including against an academic. According to Meta's publicly available content restriction reports, over 100 Facebook pages and Instagram accounts have been restricted since March 2026. This follows a similar pattern on X (formerly Twitter). Most recently, the Saudi government requested that a number of X accounts belonging to prominent Saudi activists be geo-blocked. As of the publication date (20 May), X had not complied.

The undersigned organisations consider these measures arbitrary, discriminatory, and a direct violation of the right to freedom of expression and access to information. Affected users were notified that Meta acted in response to a “local legal requirement” or a “request from a government” (i.e. Saudi Arabia and the UAE), demonstrating the company’s willingness to comply with demands from state authorities that routinely suppress, surveil, and criminalise online expression."

https://www.alqst.org/en/post/meta-blocks-human-rights-accounts-from-reaching-audiences-in-saudi-arabia-and-the-uae

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