This books a great read on Saudi Arabia written by Ina Tin who is employed by Amnesty in Norway (Book is only available in Norwegian unfortunately). Oslo Freedom Forum is mentioned several times when referring to the brave activists, particularly Manal Al-Sharif who initiated the #women2drive campaign and spoke at OFF in 2012.

What Ina Tin writes about Twitter is very interesting. From 2011 to 2012 Saudi Twitter users increased by 3000% and half of all internet users in Saudi Arabia had a Twitter account, more than any other country. Twitter was critical for activists to rally support, seek information and get attention abroad (and with the incumbent power). But it was also used to harass activists at scale.

Through that lens the purpose of the Saudi Public Investment Funds (SPIF) ownership of Twitter becomes very obvious. If a communication channel like Twitter is threatening the incumbent, why not buy influence over that channel?

Any tips on reading to learn more about SPIF and Twitter?

nostr:npub1sg6plzptd64u62a878hep2kev88swjh3tw00gjsfl8f237lmu63q0uf63m nostr:npub1trr5r2nrpsk6xkjk5a7p6pfcryyt6yzsflwjmz6r7uj7lfkjxxtq78hdpu