Access Now and other groups say Meta has made Facebook and Instagram accounts of NGOs, researchers, and civil-society figures unavailable in Saudi Arabia and the UAE since late April 2026. Meta's transparency reporting indicates more than 100 Facebook pages and Instagram accounts were restricted since March 2026, citing local legal requirements and cybercrime laws in both countries.
Why it matters: This affects access to information and the safety and reach of human-rights advocacy in highly restrictive states. It is relevant to censorship tracking because a major platform is enforcing government takedown and geo-blocking demands against lawful speech.
Wajd
2026.05.20
100% relevant
This article establishes a distinct event involving Meta's compliance with Saudi and UAE geo-blocking requests against specific human-rights and research accounts; it does not match an existing tracked story.
Alexia Skok
2026.05.20
91% relevant
This directly updates the same underlying event by adding broader context around the Gulf crackdown after strikes on Iran, and specifies that since March 2026 more than 100 Facebook and Instagram accounts/pages were reportedly restricted alongside X account blocking and arrests for filming or sharing attack footage.
← Back to all stories