CITIZENS NEWS

Twitter, now referred to as X, is facing a revised civil lawsuit accusing the company of helping Saudi Arabia commit grave human rights abuses by disclosing confidential user data at the request of the kingdom's authorities. The lawsuit, initially filed in May, delved into a series of alarming events between 2014 and 2015 when three Saudi agents infiltrated the social media company. Two of these agents pretended to work at the company, leading to the alleged kidnapping, torture and imprisonment of Abdulrahman al-Sadhan, a Saudi aid worker who disappeared and was later sentenced to 20 years in prison, and many anonymous Twitter users. (Related: Ex-Twitter employee sentenced to 3.5 years in prison for serving as SPY for Saudi Arabia.) In the revised civil lawsuit, Jim Walden, the lawyer representing Areej al-Sadhan, the sister of Abdulrahman al-Sadhan, includes new allegations against X under the ownership of then-CEO Jack Dorsey. Based on the allegations, Twitter helped the kingdom suppress its critics by disclosing confidential information about its users due to the serious financial consideration that it is more important to maintain close ties with the Saudi government, which is a top investor in the Big Tech company. "Twitter gave my brother's identifying information to the government of Saudi Arabia, which blatantly violates its terms and conditions," alleged Areej. "As a result, Saudi Arabia kidnapped, imprisoned and – through a sham trial – sentenced my brother to 20 years in prison, simply for criticizing Saudi repression on his Twitter account." "The Saudi government has since denied him contact with his family or access to his attorney," she continued. "I am not sure if he is alive. After I began to speak out against Saudi repression, my own life became a living hell."

Based on the timeline of events, Twitter went from being a helpful tool for democratic movements to being a tool of the Saudi government. In December 2014, the kingdom began using the platform when Ahmad Abouammo, an agent from Saudi Arabia, started sending confidential user data to Saudi Arabian officials. This has led to his conviction in the U.S. for acting as a secret agent for Saudi Arabia and lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Despite resigning in May 2015, Abouammo continued cooperating with Twitter in facilitating requests from Saudi officials, claiming these requests were on behalf of the Saudi government. During the second half of 2015, Twitter purportedly approved information requests from Saudi Arabia at a "significantly higher rate" than other countries. In November 2015, X promoted Ali Hamad Alzabarah, one of the Saudi agents. By September 2015, the FBI had raised concerns on Twitter about Saudi infiltration. However, despite being aware of the breach and FBI concerns, Twitter continued to engage with Saudi Arabia as a significant regional partner. Former CEO Jack Dorsey even met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approximately six months after being informed of the issue by the FBI.