Billboards with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Photo: Chris J. Ratcliffe/Getty Images
Before Washington Post Columnist Jamal Khashoggi died after a fight broke out between him and people who met him at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, he was targeted by the Saudi government through social media, reports the New York Times.
Why it matters: Khashoggi was attacked daily by Twitter trolls because of his dissenting views of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's regime and the way he ran the country. However, interviews and evidence from the Times' expansive report show Khashoggi was one of many targets of the prince as part of a broad effort to silence the country's critics.
The details: Saudi operatives began harassing critics on Twitter after the platform became popular in 2010 during the Arab Spring uprisings.
- The effort was organized by Saud al-Qahtani, the Times reports, who was one of Salman's top advisors before being fired on Saturday after the country confirmed Khashoggi's death.
Officials developed a "troll farm" in homes and offices around Riyadh, where hundreds of young men discussed and searched for dissenting voices to silence on Twitter. They compiled names into lists of people to "threaten, insult and intimate," the Times reports.
- Employees were sent memes they could use to mock dissenters "akin to the cartoons of Pepe the Frog that supporters of President Trump used to undermine opponents," the Times writes.
- They at times reported posts from dissenting users as "sensitive material" to Twitter in an effort to silence critics.
Khashoggi had come up with a strategy to combat trolls before he was killed. He formed a volunteer army of Twitter users, called "Electronic Bees," to push back against trolls.
One key quote: "The mornings were the worst for him because he would wake up to the equivalent of sustained gunfire online," Maggie Mitchell Salem, a friend of Khashoggi's for more than 15 years, told the Times.
Go deeper
Report: Twitter suspends bots tweeting in support of Saudis on Khashoggi
Photo: Atilgan Ozdil/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Twitter has suspended hundreds of bot accounts that have been tweeting in support of Saudi Arabia and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in light of Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance, NBC News’ Ben Collins and Shoshana Wodinsky report.
The intrigue: The bots were posting sporadically, which may have helped them avoid detection for some time, per Ben Nimmo, who tracks online misinformation campaigns at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensics Lab.
Former Twitter employees charged with spying on behalf of Saudi Arabia
Photo: Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Justice Department charges were revealed on Wednesday against two former Twitter employees for spying on behalf of Saudi Arabia by obtaining information on dissidents who use the platform, the Washington Post reports.
Why it matters via the Post: This marks the "first time federal prosecutors have publicly accused the kingdom of running agents in the United States. ... The case highlights the issue of foreign powers exploiting American social media platforms to identify critics and suppress their voices," and it has escalated concerns over the tech industry's ability to protect user data.
U.S. prosecutors expand charges against alleged Saudi agents at Twitter
Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
In a prominent spy case, U.S. prosecutors in San Francisco have greatly expanded charges against three men, including two ex-Twitter employees who allegedly worked as Saudi intelligence agents and used their Twitter credentials to gather information about dissidents on the social network.
Details: The new indictment, which replaces the original 2019 one, deepens the spying-related charges against the men and also alleges a series of financial and other crimes.