Meta's Facebook and Instagram platforms and Snapchat have blocked or restricted the accounts of Saudi Arabian dissidents at the request of Saudi authorities, targeting critics including US-based Abdullah Alaoudh and Canada-based Omar Abdulaziz, a close associate of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi. At least seven accounts were geo-blocked by Meta in April, with Saudi authorities having requested restrictions on 144 accounts in total that month; Snapchat appears to have acted without notifying affected users. Advocates warn the move signals an escalating transnational crackdown on dissent, with one rights group describing it as "authoritarian censorship dressed up as procedure."