X has made more than 60 accounts unavailable to users in Saudi Arabia after legal requests from the kingdom’s authorities, according to a London based human rights organisation.
The reported action means people inside Saudi Arabia can no longer view affected accounts on the platform, although the accounts may remain visible elsewhere. The process, known as geoblocking, restricts content within a particular country rather than removing it globally.
Human rights group ALQST said the accounts affected include Saudi activists living in exile, academics, independent media figures and critics of the kingdom’s human rights record. The Guardian reported that X had sent notices to account holders saying their content had been withheld in Saudi Arabia to comply with local law.
The development matters because social media platforms are a major route for people inside tightly controlled information environments to access independent commentary, rights reporting and criticism of government policy. For dissidents outside the country, these platforms can also be one of the few ways to remain visible to audiences at home.
Among those affected is Yahya Assiri, a Saudi human rights activist who leads ALQST. Abdullah Alaoudh, a US based activist and senior policy adviser for Gulf issues at the American Committee for Middle East Rights, was also named by the organisation as one of the account holders whose content has been restricted in the kingdom.
Alaoudh told the Guardian that he regarded the move as censorship and said affected users had not been accused of breaching the platforms’ own rules. The distinction is important for users because content can be legal or available in one country but withheld in another where authorities claim it breaches domestic law.
According to the report, emails from X informed users that their content had been withheld in Saudi Arabia because of the company’s obligations under Saudi local laws. A Saudi decree attached to the notices reportedly alleged that the accounts had shared material infringing public order, religious values, public morals or private life.
ALQST said the move follows earlier restrictions by other major platforms. The Guardian previously reported that Snapchat and Meta’s Facebook and Instagram had blocked access to some Saudi dissident accounts inside the kingdom after complaints from Saudi authorities that the accounts broke local law.
At that time, X, formerly known as Twitter, said it had notified users that it had not acted on requests from Saudi authorities and said it believed in defending and respecting users’ voices. ALQST now says the platform began withholding accounts inside Saudi Arabia from mid July.
Abdullah Aljuraywi, a monitoring and campaigns officer at ALQST whose X account was also reportedly blocked in the kingdom, said Saudi authorities had a long record of seeking to silence criticism. He also criticised technology companies for enabling restrictions rather than protecting freedom of expression.
ALQST has called on X, Meta, Snapchat and YouTube to restore access to the accounts and to explain more clearly how decisions are made when governments request country level restrictions.
Meta previously told the Guardian that when it receives reports of content alleged to breach local law, but which does not violate Meta’s own community standards, it may restrict availability only in the country where the content is claimed to be unlawful.
The use of localised blocking places large technology companies in a difficult position. Platforms operating internationally often face legal demands from governments, while users and rights groups argue that compliance can help limit political speech and public interest reporting, particularly where legal systems offer limited protection for critics.
For ordinary users inside Saudi Arabia, the practical effect is that posts from affected accounts may disappear or be replaced by a notice saying the content is unavailable locally. Users outside the country may still see the same accounts, meaning the restriction can be less visible to the wider public.
One of the affected figures is Ghanem al-Masarir, a Saudi satirist based in the UK. Earlier this year, a British court ordered Saudi Arabia to pay him £3m in damages after his iPhones were hacked and he was attacked outside Harrods in central London.
In May, al-Masarir was told by YouTube that two of his accounts, which had more than 800,000 subscribers combined, would be blocked inside Saudi Arabia after legal complaints from a government entity, according to the Guardian. YouTube did not respond to the newspaper’s request for comment.
The same month, X reportedly notified al-Masarir that Saudi authorities had requested action against his account, alleging a breach of Saudi law. By July, he had been told that his content had been withheld inside the kingdom.
X and the Saudi embassy in London were approached for comment by the Guardian. The restrictions are likely to increase scrutiny of how social media companies respond to state requests, especially where the accounts involved belong to activists, journalists and campaigners whose audiences may depend on online access to follow public interest information.
