(San Francisco, CA, Wednesday, June 30, 2021) – As Independence Day approaches, many Americans reflect on what freedom and freedom of speech means to them, and how to help promote these types of freedoms throughout the world. Today’s generation of social activists rely heavily on social media to address concerns of human rights and social justice.

One of these activists, Areej Al Sadhan, is the sister of humanitarian Aid Worker Abdulrahman Al Sadhan, who was detained in Saudi Arabia in March 2018 after allegedly operating a satirical Twitter account that was critical of the Saudi government.

He is a Saudi citizen but has spent most of his childhood in the United States and is a graduate of the University of California. His family, like Areej, are U.S. citizens and have been outspoken since his arrest with little to no contact with him while in prison.

Big Tech is turning a blind eye to how its platforms are being leveraged to monitor, stymie, and target people like Abdulrahman. This is under the leadership of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has access to a secret Saudi police force and kidnapped Abdulrahman from his workplace during a mass crackdown on peaceful activists, critics, and online commentators. His sister, U.S.-based American citizen Areej Al Sadhan is working tirelessly to fight for his freedom and has started www.freesadhan.org  to help raise awareness of the unjust incarceration.

Twitter had a public commenting period on how to address world leaders who violate freedom of speech on the platform in April, yet no reforms have taken place. And despite Big Tech leaders delivering several testimonies to Congress, no legislation has been put forward to protect users’ privacy on the platforms.

The freedom of speech is a core value to Americans and the actions of the Saudi government are a direct threat to that value. What continues to happen under Twitter’s watch could just as easily occur here at home. Americans have a right to know that Saudi Arabia continues to influence our communication channels and pose a real threat to our democracy.