New revelations that Saudi Arabia is alleged to have paid former Twitter employees in the United Sates to spy on the kingdom's critics show just how extensive Riyadh's reach is in silencing dissidents abroad.

But it's only the latest news about the growing sophistication of the often brutal machinery the ruling family has long used to muzzle and intimidate anyone it sees as undermining the authority of the institution of the monarchy.

The latest allegations come at a sensitive time. The state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco wants no suggestion of political instability to upset its partial public stock market float, while a number of prominent members of the royal family have questioned Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's ability to lead in the wake of attacks on the kingdom's largest oil refinery in September.

The campaign of disappearances and threats have intensified in recent years, as bin Salman rose to and consolidated power.

Domestically, Human Rights Watch has documented waves of mass arrests since bin Salman became crown prince in 2017, despite international condemnation of the brutal murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in late 2018 and an attempt to shift the narrative toward reform by relaxing restrictions on women.

But outside the kingdom, Saudi Arabia has extended its reach through new means.

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History of disappearances

Although Khashoggi's dismemberment in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul forced the world's attention, the kingdom has long disappeared those critical of its regime living abroad.

In 1979, opposition figure Nassir al-Sa'id vanished in Beirut. And in 2003, regime critic Sultan bin Turki bin Abdulaziz — a member of the royal family — was allegedly drugged in Geneva and taken to Riyadh, only to escape to exile in Europe. He was reportedly lured into boarding a Saudi plane again in 2016, and has not been seen since.

Prince Turki bin Bandar posted videos calling for reform from Paris between 2012 and 2015, but has since disappeared, as has Saud bin Saif al-Nasr, who was living in Milan and had reportedly backed calls for King Salman to be overthrown.

Saudi spy tech

Now that social media has made public debate all the more easy, the regime has extended its operations to intimidate and silence outspoken users on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook, and uses sophisticated surveillance software to hack dissidents' accounts and issue threats.

Last year, the brothers and friends of Canadian-based Saudi activist Omar Abdulaziz were arrested in what he saw as an attempt to force him to mute his popular criticism online. Soon after, he learned his phone had been hacked through the encrypted messaging service WhatsApp by a Saudi-linked operator of the Israeli spy software Pegasus.

Abdulaziz and London-based critic Yahya Assiri were both associates of Jamal Khashoggi. Assiri and YouTube satirist Ghanem Almasarir were the next to learn their phones' cameras, microphones, contacts and messages were all being silently monitored through the Israeli software.

Mohammed bin Salman's former top adviser, Saud al-Qahtani, even tweeted in 2017 that the government had ways to unmask anonymous Twitter users.

Thousands of fake Twitter and Facebook accounts have also been deployed at key moments to turn political conversation in the state's favor and harass other users. While both companies have attempted to suspend the bots and pages pushing state propaganda, experts say the suspensions are unlikely to affect the sheer number spreading disinformation.

Women's rights in Saudi Arabia: A timeline 1955: First school for girls, 1970: First university for women Girls have not always been able to go to school like these students in Riyadh. Enrollment at the first school for girls, Dar Al Hanan, began in 1955. The Riyadh College of Education, the first higher education institution for women, opened in 1970.

Women's rights in Saudi Arabia: A timeline 2001: ID cards for women At the start of the 21st century, women could get personal ID cards for the first time. The cards are the only way for them to prove who they are, for example in disputes relating to inheritance or property issues. IDs were only issued with the permission of a woman's guardian, though, and to the guardian instead of directly to the woman. Only in 2006 were women able to get IDs without permission.

Women's rights in Saudi Arabia: A timeline 2005: End of forced marriages - on paper Saudi Arabia banned forced marriage in 2005, but marriage contracts continue to be hammered out between the husband-to-be and the father of the bride, not the bride herself.

Women's rights in Saudi Arabia: A timeline 2009: The first female government minister In 2009, King Abdullah appointed the first female minister to Saudi Arabia's government. Noura al-Fayez became the deputy education minister for women's affairs.

Women's rights in Saudi Arabia: A timeline 2012: First female Olympic athletes Saudi Arabia agreed to allow female athletes to compete on the national team for the Olympics for the first time. One of them was Sarah Attar, who ran the women's 800 meter race at the 2012 Olympics in London wearing a headscarf. Before the Games, there was speculation that the Saudi Arabian team might be banned for gender discrimination if they didn't allow women to participate.

Women's rights in Saudi Arabia: A timeline 2013: Women are allowed to ride bicycles and motorbikes Saudi leaders allowed women to ride bicycles and motorbikes for the first time in 2013 — but only in recreational areas, wearing full Islamic body covering and with a male relative present.

Women's rights in Saudi Arabia: A timeline 2013: First women in the Shura In February 2013, King Abdullah swore in the first 30 women to the Shura, Saudi Arabia's consultative council. This allowed women to be appointed to these positions, soon they would be allowed to actually run for office...

Women's rights in Saudi Arabia: A timeline 2015: Women can vote and get elected In Saudi Arabia's 2015 municipal elections, women were able to vote and run for office for the first time. By contrast, New Zealand was the first country to give women the vote, in 1893. Germany did so in 1919. At the 2015 Saudi polls, 20 women were elected to municipal roles in the absolute monarchy.

Women's rights in Saudi Arabia: A timeline 2017: First female head of the Saudi stock exchange In February 2017, the Saudi stock exchange names the first female chairperson in its history, Sarah Al Suhaimi.

Women's rights in Saudi Arabia: A timeline 2018: Women to be allowed in sports stadiums On October 29, 2017, the country's General Sports Authority announced that women would be allowed into sports stadiums for the first time. Three previously male-only arenas will soon be open for women as well, starting in early 2018.

Women's rights in Saudi Arabia: A timeline 2018: Driving ban eliminated On September 26, 2017, Saudi Arabia announced that women would soon be allowed to drive, causing a flurry of driving courses for women to prepare for June 2018, when they would no longer need permission from their male guardian to get a driver's license or need their guardian in the car when they drive.

Women's rights in Saudi Arabia: A timeline 2019: Saudi women to be notified by text message if they are divorced The new law, designed to protect them from having their marriage ended without their knowledge, will allow women to check their marital status online or visit a court to get a copy of divorce papers. Human rights defenders say the law does nothing to address the fact that Saudi women can only obtain divorces in exceedingly limited cases — such as with her husband’s consent or if he has harmed her. Author: Carla Bleiker



Twitter threat

Those efforts, and the recent allegations of Saudi infiltration of Twitter, highlight just how much of a threat the regime sees social media platforms.

With about one-third of the nation's 30 million people actively using Twitter, it is the country's main channel for public conversation.

When Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun fled her male guardians and tweeted for help from Bangkok airport earlier this year, the online attention she received raised her profile enough to be granted asylum in Canada and further damage the reputation of the regime after Khashoggi's death.

While more women such as Maha and Wafa Alsubaie had similar success using the platform to appeal for help, other high-profile asylum-seekers like Dina Ali Lasloom that have brought the guardianship system into focus on Twitter had less luck.

Many more women's rights activists inside Saudi Arabia, such as Loujain al-Hathloul, have been jailed to prevent them from trying to leave.

Read more: Saudi women refugees in Germany: Still living in fear

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'Psychological war'

Maati Monjib, a political analyst at the University of Mohammed V in Rabat, Morocco, said while authoritarian states have long dominated traditional media, the arrival of social media has put regimes such as the Saudi monarchy under great pressure.

"It became clear to these authoritarian states they were no longer in control of public opinion, especially with the large rise of users of these social networks," Monjib told DW.

But while he said it became important for such states to control these platforms, they have also turned them to their advantage to gather information about dissidents and use that against them to undermine their credibility and isolate them from their support networks.

Saudi activist Abdulaziz Almoayyad told DW that while the inexperience of Mohammed bin Salman has led him to handle foreign and domestic relations very badly, the regime's manipulation of social media has vastly improved its control over the Saudi population while allowing it to carry out "psychological war."

By developing detailed profiles of everyone the regime sees as dissidents, "they know how to push them back," Almoayyad said.

"Can you imagine the feeling that when you're in your own home, when you're with your family, when you're in your intimate times, you can feel the possibility of being watched and listened to the whole time?"

DW has asked the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment.

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