May 21, 2026 20:00:00

Local organizations protest after Meta blocks human rights activists from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

ALQST, a Saudi Arabia-based human rights organization, has issued a statement protesting Meta. Meta has restricted access to various content within Saudi Arabia at the request of Saudi Arabian authorities, but ALQST argues that this is a violation of freedom of expression.

Meta blocks human rights accounts from reaching audiences in Saudi Arabia and the UAE

https://www.alqst.org/ar/posts/1190

In April 2026, Meta

received a report from the Saudi Arabian Communications, Space and Technology Committee that it had restricted access to 125 Instagram accounts and Facebook pages. These were deemed to be problematic in terms of geopolitical conflict, security, political, and religious issues, and were considered to violate local cybercrime prevention laws. In response, Meta independently restricted access to 92 content accounts within Saudi Arabia.

According to ALQST, Meta's access restrictions have resulted in 'geoblocking' of accounts belonging to ALQST and other human rights organizations and activists, making them inaccessible from within Saudi Arabia. Similar restrictions have been imposed in the UAE, with the organization reporting that more than 100 Facebook pages and Instagram accounts have been restricted since March 2026.

ALQST, after collecting signatures from multiple organizations, argued that 'the signatory organizations believe these measures are arbitrary and discriminatory and constitute a direct violation of freedom of expression and the right to information. Affected users have been notified that Meta acted at the request of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, demonstrating that the company is willingly complying with the demands of state authorities that routinely suppress, monitor, and criminalize online expression.'

In addition, they stated, 'Meta claims to conduct human rights reviews before complying with government requests. We demand that Meta clarify what that review of the ALQST page entailed, who conducted it, what criteria were applied, and how it concluded that restricting human rights organizations at the request of a government that imprisons people for posting on social media is compatible with its own commitments,' calling for transparency from Meta.

ALQST's website has been blocked in Saudi Arabia, and other sites containing content critical of the government or defending human rights and democracy in the country are also reportedly restricted in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

ALQST has requested that Meta, which claims to be neutral, not follow suit with these measures, and if it does, it should explain its reasons.