May 26, 2021 | Posted by Eric Bell
Thirty-nine human rights groups, including Amnesty International, have called on Google to stop building data centers in Saudi Arabia. They also said Google should stop its plans to open a cloud region in the country in partnership with Saudi Aramco. These groups noted that Google should at least carry out an assessment and show how it will prevent its platform from being misused.
Rasha Abdul Rahim, director of Amnesty Tech, said that Google’s plan could give the Saudi greater powers to spy on peaceful activists. He also said that it could also help Saudi authorities gain access to data of individuals with a different opinion in the country.
