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

Meta 屏蔽人权组织账号，限制沙特阿拉伯和阿联酋用户访问

The undersigned organisations condemn Meta’s recent decision to restrict the Facebook and Instagram accounts of independent NGOs, researchers, and civil society figures from reaching audiences in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This is the latest in a pattern of major technology companies, including Meta, acting as enforcement arms for repressive governments in the Gulf. We call on Meta to uphold its human rights responsibilities and ensure that users’ content is not arbitrarily restricted.

签署此声明的各组织谴责 Meta 近期做出的决定，即限制独立非政府组织、研究人员和公民社会人士的 Facebook 和 Instagram 账号，使其无法触及沙特阿拉伯和阿拉伯联合酋长国（阿联酋）的受众。这是包括 Meta 在内的大型科技公司充当海湾地区压制性政府执法工具的最新案例。我们呼吁 Meta 履行其人权责任，确保用户内容不会受到任意限制。

Since 30 April 2026, Gulf-focused NGOs ALQST for Human Rights and Democratic Diwan, as well as Saudi researcher Abdullah Alaoudh and human rights defender Yahya Assiri, have had their Facebook accounts rendered “unavailable” in Saudi Arabia at the request of the Saudi government, in a form of “geo-blocking”. Similar restrictions have been imposed in the UAE, including against an academic. According to Meta’s publicly available content restriction reports, over 100 Facebook pages and Instagram accounts have been restricted since March 2026.

自 2026 年 4 月 30 日起，应沙特政府的要求，专注于海湾地区的非政府组织“ALQST 人权组织”和“民主迪万”（Democratic Diwan），以及沙特研究员阿卜杜拉·阿拉乌德（Abdullah Alaoudh）和人权捍卫者叶海亚·阿西里（Yahya Assiri）的 Facebook 账号在沙特境内被设为“不可用”，这是一种“地理封锁”手段。阿联酋也实施了类似的限制，其中包括针对一名学者的限制。根据 Meta 公开的内容限制报告，自 2026 年 3 月以来，已有超过 100 个 Facebook 页面和 Instagram 账号受到限制。

This follows a similar pattern on X (formerly Twitter). Most recently, the Saudi government requested that a number of X accounts belonging to prominent Saudi activists be geo-blocked. As of the publication date (20 May), X had not complied. The undersigned organisations consider these measures arbitrary, discriminatory, and a direct violation of the right to freedom of expression and access to information.

此前，X（前身为 Twitter）上也出现了类似的模式。最近，沙特政府要求对一些知名沙特活动人士的 X 账号进行地理封锁。截至发布日期（5 月 20 日），X 尚未执行该要求。签署此声明的各组织认为，这些措施是武断的、歧视性的，直接侵犯了言论自由和获取信息的权利。

Affected users were notified that Meta acted in response to a “local legal requirement” or a “request from a government” (i.e. Saudi Arabia and the UAE), demonstrating the company’s willingness to comply with demands from state authorities that routinely suppress, surveil, and criminalise online expression. Meta’s notifications cite compliance with “local laws”, and its reports specify the cybercrime laws of Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

受影响的用户收到通知称，Meta 的行动是响应“当地法律要求”或“政府请求”（即沙特和阿联酋），这表明该公司愿意配合那些惯于压制、监控和将在线言论定罪的政府当局的要求。Meta 的通知援引了对“当地法律”的遵守，其报告明确提到了沙特和阿联酋的网络犯罪法。

Authorities in Saudi Arabia and the UAE have long relied on draconian cybercrime and counterterrorism legislation to silence dissent and restrict freedom of expression online. Countless activists and peaceful critics have been arrested, tried and sentenced for expressing critical opinions in online publications or on social media, including Facebook and X. The reports further cite that the content allegedly violating cybercrime laws includes “reporting on regional geopolitical conflicts and security developments.”

沙特和阿联酋当局长期以来一直依赖严苛的网络犯罪和反恐立法来压制异见并限制在线言论自由。无数活动人士和和平批评者因在在线出版物或社交媒体（包括 Facebook 和 X）上发表批评意见而被捕、审判和判刑。报告进一步指出，被指控违反网络犯罪法的内容包括“报道地区地缘政治冲突和安全事态发展”。

Since the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran on 28 February 2026, Gulf governments have moved swiftly to tighten the information environment even further, controlling what their populations can see, say, and share about the attacks unfolding in their countries. Meta claims to conduct human rights due diligence reviews before complying with government requests. We ask Meta to disclose what that review looked like for ALQST’s page (and other affected accounts), who conducted it, what standards were applied, and how the company concluded that restricting a human rights organisation at the request of a government that imprisons people for social media posts is compatible with its own stated commitments.

自 2026 年 2 月 28 日美国和以色列对伊朗发动袭击以来，海湾国家政府迅速采取行动，进一步收紧信息环境，控制其民众对国内发生的袭击事件所能看到、谈论和分享的内容。Meta 声称在配合政府请求前会进行人权尽职调查。我们要求 Meta 公开针对 ALQST 页面（及其他受影响账号）的审查情况，包括审查由谁进行、应用了什么标准，以及该公司如何得出结论：应一个因社交媒体帖子而监禁民众的政府要求，去限制一个人权组织，这与其自身声明的承诺是相符的。

Meanwhile, authorities in both countries exert near total control over online information, and routinely block websites and internet accounts that might be of public interest, such as the websites of ALQST (blocked in Saudi Arabia since 2015), the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (blocked in Saudi Arabia and the UAE since 2015) and others that might contain content critical of the government or that advocate for human rights and democracy in the country.

与此同时，两国当局对在线信息实行近乎完全的控制，并经常封锁可能涉及公共利益的网站和互联网账号，例如 ALQST 的网站（自 2015 年起在沙特被封锁）、海湾人权中心（自 2015 年起在沙特和阿联酋被封锁）以及其他可能包含批评政府内容或倡导该国人权与民主的网站。

In this highly repressive context, Meta has a heightened responsibility to uphold freedom of expression and protect human rights defenders, especially from “censorship demands from governments or their proxies” as Meta publicly states in its human rights policy. Instead of preserving the free flow of information, Meta has further restricted access to it. Ironically, Meta’s notifications state that the company conducted legal assessments beforehand and “took into account human rights implications.” Given the well-documented pattern of digital repression by Saudi and UAE authorities, such claims are difficult to reconcile.

在这种高度压制的环境下，Meta 有更大的责任维护言论自由并保护人权捍卫者，特别是使其免受“政府或其代理人的审查要求”的影响，正如 Meta 在其人权政策中公开声明的那样。Meta 不仅没有维护信息的自由流动，反而进一步限制了对信息的访问。讽刺的是，Meta 的通知称该公司事先进行了法律评估，并“考虑了人权影响”。鉴于沙特和阿联酋当局数字压制的模式已有据可查，这种说法难以自圆其说。

The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights expect companies to assess whether government requests are consistent with international human rights standards before complying and to be transparent about how they reached their conclusions. The undersigned organisations therefore call on Meta to:

• Publish the full legal requests received from Saudi and UAE authorities along with the human rights assessments Meta claims to have conducted;
• Restore full access to all affected accounts immediately;
• Commit to notifying affected users with specific details about which content triggered the restriction and under which law; and
• Explain what role, if any, Meta’s regional offices in the Gulf played in processing these requests.

《联合国工商企业与人权指导原则》期望企业在配合政府请求前，评估其是否符合国际人权标准，并对得出结论的过程保持透明。因此，签署此声明的各组织呼吁 Meta：

• 公布从沙特和阿联酋当局收到的完整法律请求，以及 Meta 声称已进行的人权评估；
• 立即恢复所有受影响账号的完全访问权限；
• 承诺通知受影响用户，并提供具体细节，说明哪些内容触发了限制以及依据的是哪项法律；
• 解释 Meta 在海湾地区的区域办事处在处理这些请求时发挥了什么作用（如果有的话）。