The American sister of a Saudi aid worker who was jailed over his satirical Twitter feed is voicing concerns about Saudi Arabia's reach into the social media giant, as the Arab nation pursues an emergent role in culture and professional sports.
Areej filed a lawsuit last month, accusing Twitter of becoming"a tool of transnational repression" by allowing Abdulrhaman's identity to be improperly divulged to Saudi officials in 2015, three years before he was arrested. Areej, an American citizen, and her brother, Abdulrahman, a Saudi national, split time between the two countries growing up. After he finished school in California in 2013, Abdulrahman returned to Riyadh to work at the Red Crescent Society. It was from that office in March 2018, that he was arrested.
"The kingdom of Saudi Arabia weaponized that information," said attorney Jim Walden, who represents Areej al-Sadhan in the civil lawsuit."None of this would've happened, but for Twitter's corruption. Twitter lit the fuse."