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The number of users of these platforms is equivalent to more than 58 percent of the total population.
In 2021, the use of digital platforms grew by 32 percent in Saudi Arabia.
In an increasingly digitized world and where technology is reflected everywhere, it is normal to find that social networks are the communication window most used by people globally. But although it seems like an important tool for humanity, there are countries where there are restrictions, such as the recent case of a woman in Saudi Arabia who was sentenced to jail for using social networks.
According to data revealed in a report by We Are Social and Hootsuitethere are now 4.62 billion network users worldwide, representing a year-over-year growth of more than 10 percent.
Likewise, the report mentioned that the number of users of social networks it now equates to more than 58 percent of the world’s total population.
Given these data, it is normal to wonder if countries with greater restrictions on their population, such as Saudi Arabia, use social networks. With a population of 32 million, Saudi Arabia is the second most populous country in the region, therefore, the use of these platforms continues to grow rapidly throughout the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a trend of interest for brands, agencies and the media.
Data from We Are Social and Hootsuite revealed that social media users there grew 32 percent, compared to a global average of 13 percent, from January 2017 to January 2018.
According to information released by the Dawn media outlet, a human rights group founded by Jamal Khashoggi, which was able to obtain the documents, it was revealed that Nourah bint Saeed al-Qahtani, a woman, was sentenced to 45 years in prison. in Saudi Arabia for “violate public order” and “break the social fabric” through social networks.
According to international media data, the sentence comes weeks after Salma al-Shehab, a 34-year-old doctoral student at the University of Leeds and a mother of two, was found guilty and sentenced.
Information from court documents in Shehab’s case revealed that she had been convicted of the alleged crime of following the Twitter accounts of people who “They cause public disturbances and destabilize civil and national security.”
The case, which has been publicized internationally, saw Shehab testify in front of a Saudi court that she had suffered abuse and harassment during her detention, including being interrogated after being given drugs that made her sleepy.
“It is impossible not to connect between Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s meeting with President Biden last month in Jeddah and the rise in repressive attacks against anyone who dares criticize the Crown Prince or the Saudi government for well-documented abuses,” said Abdullah Alaoudh, Dawn’s director for the Gulf region.
The news outlet Dawn broke the news in the hope that people who know Qahtani can help her case.
It is worth mentioning that Saudi laws are designed to give authorities maximum discretion, including the power to detain people for anti-terror laws that are loosely defined as “disturbing public order” and “endangering national unity.”
The sentence and the woman’s case have been so publicized that the US State Department said it has raised “significant concerns” with Saudi authorities about Shehab.
“We have made it clear to them that freedom of expression is a universal human right to which all people are entitled and that the exercise of those universal rights should never be criminalized,” spokesman Ned Price said.
In that same order, pressed by journalists on the matter, Price added that the State Department was following the case “very closely” and that the United States had had “several” conversations with its Saudi counterparts in recent days.
In that sense, although for many social networks can be a communication tool, many governments use a magnifying glass to evaluate everything that may arise from this digital world.
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