Saudi Money Fuels the Tech Industry. It’s Time to Ask Why.
- 7 years ago
Saudi Money Fuels the Tech Industry. It’s Time to Ask Why.
The money from regimes that have been criticized for their human rights records — from Saudi Arabia’s government in particular, which has plans to funnel potentially
hundreds of billions of dollars into tech companies through its state-controlled Public Investment Fund — stands in stark contrast to those aims.
Prince Alwaleed, some pointed out, was not aligned with the Saudi government — his arrest by the government underscores this —
and he has advocated for some progressive reforms, including giving women the right to drive, a restriction that the kingdom says will be lifted next year.
By accepting these investments, tech companies get to revel in the branding glory of global good while taking billions from a government
that stands against many of those goals — a government that has an abysmal record with human rights groups, that has systematically marginalized women, that has not had much legal due process and that has advocated an extreme form of Islam that has zero tolerance for just about any religious or intellectual diversity whatsoever.
The gauzy vision allows tech companies to claim to be part of the solution in Saudi Arabia rather than part the problem: Sure, they are taking money from one of the world’s least transparent and most undemocratic regimes,
but it’s the part of the government that wants to do better.
Twitter, which got a $300 million investment from Prince Alwaleed’s Kingdom Holding Company in 2011 — around the same time
that it was talking up its role in the Arab Spring — declined to comment on his arrest.
So did Uber, which garnered a $3.5 billion investment from the Public Investment Fund in 2016,
and which is in talks to receive a big investment from the SoftBank fund.
The money from regimes that have been criticized for their human rights records — from Saudi Arabia’s government in particular, which has plans to funnel potentially
hundreds of billions of dollars into tech companies through its state-controlled Public Investment Fund — stands in stark contrast to those aims.
Prince Alwaleed, some pointed out, was not aligned with the Saudi government — his arrest by the government underscores this —
and he has advocated for some progressive reforms, including giving women the right to drive, a restriction that the kingdom says will be lifted next year.
By accepting these investments, tech companies get to revel in the branding glory of global good while taking billions from a government
that stands against many of those goals — a government that has an abysmal record with human rights groups, that has systematically marginalized women, that has not had much legal due process and that has advocated an extreme form of Islam that has zero tolerance for just about any religious or intellectual diversity whatsoever.
The gauzy vision allows tech companies to claim to be part of the solution in Saudi Arabia rather than part the problem: Sure, they are taking money from one of the world’s least transparent and most undemocratic regimes,
but it’s the part of the government that wants to do better.
Twitter, which got a $300 million investment from Prince Alwaleed’s Kingdom Holding Company in 2011 — around the same time
that it was talking up its role in the Arab Spring — declined to comment on his arrest.
So did Uber, which garnered a $3.5 billion investment from the Public Investment Fund in 2016,
and which is in talks to receive a big investment from the SoftBank fund.