Saudi social media hits back at ‘hacked’ Bezos
Saudi Arabia’s social media has been flooded with calls to boycott Amazon, prompting suspicion that allies of the crown prince have set a cyber army against Jeff Bezos amid allegations that Mohammed bin Salman was himself involved in hacking the American tycoon’s phone. “Boycott Amazon products” was the top online trend as Saudi users deleted their Amazon apps and abused Mr Bezos. It was unclear if this was genuine anger among the people or a government-led action.
SAUDI social media was flooded with calls to boycott Amazon yesterday amid suspicions that Mohammed bin Salman’s allies had activated a cyber army against Jeff Bezos.
It came after allegations that the crown prince was personally involved in hacking the Amazon tycoon’s phone.
The Arabic hashtag for “Boycott Amazon Products” was the top trend in the kingdom as users posted pictures of themselves deleting the Amazon app and hurling online abuse at Mr Bezos.
It was not immediately clear if the hashtag represented a genuine surge of anger among ordinary Saudis or was a coordinated campaign by the Saudi government to push their message on social media.
Saud al-qahtani, a former aide to Prince Mohammed, is alleged to have organised a similar anti-bezos campaign in October 2018. It followed the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who worked for the Washington Post, which is owned by Mr Bezos.
The hashtag was first posted to Twitter yesterday morning by an account called @MBS_MBSKSA, the profile of which included images of King Salman, Prince Mohammed’s father, and a Saudi fighter jet.
Within hours, the account was suspended by Twitter. But other users continued to rail at Amazon, the Post and
Souq, a Middle Eastern e-commerce platform owned by Amazon.
Saudi Arabia has a history of trying to manipulate discourse on social media by promoting pro-government hashtags and attacking enemies of the crown prince.
Ben Nimmo, director of investigations at social media analysis company Graphika, believes the latest wave of prosaudi tweets is being driven
‘Arabic and English hashtags together picked up 14,000 tweets in six hours, mostly in Arabic’
by both bot and human activity.
“Arabic and English hashtags together picked up about 14,000 tweets in six hours, mostly in Arabic,” he said. “The way this hashtag was mainly driven by one account resembles the way Qahtani drove traffic in 2017, but there isn’t enough evidence to attribute it to any one group.”
Last September, Twitter suspended Mr al-qahtani for “violations of our platform manipulation policies”.
It also deleted what it said were six accounts that called themselves independent journalistic outlets but were in fact part of the Saudi state media apparatus pushing out pro-government propaganda. In December, the platform deleted 6,000 accounts for pro-saudi propaganda. They were linked to social media company Smaat, which manages the social media of several Saudi government departments. There was no immediate response from the Saudi government to requests for comment.
Many of the posts under “Boycott Amazon Products” took aim at Mr Bezos personally. These suggested, without any evidence, that the billionaire may have a relationship with Mr Khashoggi’s fiancée. Yesterday, a
White House spokesman said the US was taking seriously reports Mr Bezos had been hacked but would not be drawn on whether an investigation would be launched.
“Saudi Arabia is obviously an important ally,” said Hogan Gidley. “I’m aware of the reports … I don’t have any more information than that.”
Saudi Arabia’s young population is among the most digitally connected in the world. And while the government has a vested interest in deflecting criticism of Prince Mohammed, many young Saudis are fiercely protective of the crown prince and see criticism of
him as an attempt to undermine his country.
The hashtag began trending a day after UN investigators announced that they believed Prince Mohammed had been personally involved in hacking Mr Bezos’s phone by sending him a video file infused with spyware.
He then attempted attempted to intimidate Mr Bezos by sending a picture of a woman who resembled Lauren Sanchez, with whom Mr Bezos was having a then-secret affair.
“The information we have received suggests the possible involvement of the crown prince in surveillance of Mr Bezos, in an effort to influence, if not silence, the Washington Post’s reporting on Saudi Arabia,” said investigators Agnes Callamard and David Kaye.
“The allegations reinforce other reporting pointing to a pattern of targeted surveillance of perceived opponents and those of broader strategic importance.”