The complaint marks the first time that the
kingdom, long linked to the U.S. through its
massive oil reserves and regional security
arrangements, has been accused of spying
in America.
The allegations against two former Twitter
employees and a third man who ran a social
media marketing company that did work for
the Saudi royal family comes a little more than
a year after the execution of Jamal Khashoggi.
The Washington Post columnist and prominent
critic of the Saudi government was slain and
dismembered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Saudi Arabia under King Salman and his
son, 34-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed
bin Salman, have aggressively silenced and
detained government critics even as it allows
women to drive and opens movie theaters in the
conservative kingdom.
Prince Mohammed also has been implicated by
U.S. officials and a United Nations investigative
report in the assassination of Khashoggi. The
prince has said he bore ultimate responsibility
for the kingdom, though he denies
orchestrating the slaying.
The criminal allegations reveal the extent the
Saudi government went to control the flow of
information on Twitter, said Adam Coogle, a
Middle East researcher with Human Rights Watch.
The platform is the main place for Saudis to
express their views, and about a third of the
nation’s 30 million people are active users. But
the free-wheeling nature of Twitter is a major
source of concern for the authoritarian regime,
Coogle said.