A federal lawsuit filed against Twitter and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia alleges former employees for the social media platform shared confidential user data with the Saudis, resulting in the kidnapping, torture and menacing of people critical of the nation’s government.
“The … defendants are members of a racketeering enterprise that seeks to extend the authoritarian control of Saudi Arabia beyond its borders and silence its critics through acts of transnational repression on U.S. and international soil,” the Manhattan law firm Walden, Macht & Haran said in a statement.
The suit filed Tuesday on behalf of Abdulrahman Al-Sadhan and Areej Al-Sadhan names Twitter, former Twitter employees Ahmad Abouammo and Ali Alzabarah, Saudi officials and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as defendants in the case.
Abdulrahman Al-Sadhan was allegedly targeted by Saudis acting on information about him provided by Abouammo and Alzabarah. After the Saudi critic disappeared, his sister, Areej Al-Sadhan, claims her life was threatened when she called for his return, the suit alleges.
The U.S. District Attorney’s Office in Northern California charged Abouammo, Alzabarah and Ahmed Almutairi — an alleged accomplice —for acting as unregistered agents of the government of Saudi Arabia in November 2019. Almutairi is also named in the lawsuit, which refers to the defendants as components of a “Saudi Criminal Enterprise.”
In December, Abouammo was convicted on that charge in addition to conspiracy, wire fraud and international money laundering. Alzabarah fled to Saudi Arabia, which is where Almutaira operates as an aid to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Federal prosecutors claimed during Abouammo’s trial “the enterprise” unlawfully transmitted privileged Twitter data more than 30,000 times. The suit alleges “the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia used its commercial relationship with Twitter to advance the enterprise scheme of crushing dissent and disappearing government critics.”
Kingdom Holding Company, run by Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal Bin Abzulaziz Al Saud (PO), said in October it would trust its $1.89 billion in Twitter stock to Elon Musk, who’d purchased the company for $44 billion a day earlier.
“KHC & PO are jointly the second largest investor after Elon Musk,” the investors boasted.
Plaintiff attorney Jim Walden said in a statement it was regrettable that his clients needed to address the matter through the courts.
“We look forward to holding Twitter and the Saudi regime to account,” Walden said.
Twitter responded by email with a poop emoji when contacted for comment.