Opinion piece: Anand Giridharadas, NYT, Silicon Valley’s Saudi Arabia Problem, 12 Oct 2018 "As Saudi Arabia establishes its new role as one of Silicon Valley’s most prominent investors, the risk grows that its investments will purchase silence. Companies that pride themselves on openness and freedom may find themselves unable to speak ill of one of their largest investors." Discover More…

Tags: Saudi Arabia, Saudi Internet, Jamal Khashoggi

Man arrested after breakfast with woman in Saudi Arabia

11 September 2018 10:28 Filed in: Social Media

BBC News, Man arrested after breakfast with woman in Saudi Arabia, 10 Sep 2018 "In the 30-second video, the man and woman briefly joke about eating their breakfast together, with nobody else invited."

Contrasting views were expressed on social media from Egypt and Saudi Arabia in relation to this incident.

Tags: Saudi Internet, Egyptian Internet, Gender

Hajj Representation

08 September 2018 16:32 Filed in: Religious Authority | Social Media

It's been interesting to review the output of CIC Saudi Arabia on Twitter during Hajj 2018, presenting human stories within the hajj. Some examples are below (check my @garybunt Twitter feed for more):

The following video isn't on theYouTube channel yet, but here's a Twitter link: in contemporary times, the long distance journey to hajj on foot becomes all the more remarkable #hajj CIC Saudi Arabia, [@CICSaudi], "Hajj is over but for Othman AlShahin the journey is not over yet. The man who walked 450km to Hajj (the equivalent distance of #Paris to #Geneva) is now on his way home by foot. "

Tags: Saudi Internet, hajj

Saudi Arabia Seeks Death Penalty Against Prominent Cleric

08 September 2018 17:23 Filed in: Security | Religious Authority | Social Media

Bloomberg.com, Saudi Arabia Seeks Death Penalty Against Prominent Cleric, 4 September 2018 "Salman Al-Odah was detained in September 2017. Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir said at the time that the roundup of a diverse group of clerics, businessmen and intellectuals had targeted people who were “pushing an extremist agenda” with the help of foreign funding." Analysis/commentary.
I discuss Al-Odah in 'Hashtag Islam'.

Tags: Saudi Internet, Salman Al-Odah

Saudi and Amazon Deploy Twitter bots

08 September 2018 17:04 Filed in: Security | 'Fake News' | Social Media

albawaba, Manufacturing Consent: Saudi and Amazon Deploy Twitter Bots to Insist They Are Virtuous, 26 August 2018
opinion/analysis (with a nod to Chomsky): "The contemporary media landscape is experiencing a shift: as news is increasingly shared through and understood by social media, powerful companies and countries are exploiting loopholes to create hordes of accounts tweeting along regime and corporate lines. In so doing, manufacture an image of consent and create an air of doubt whenever a damaging report surfaces."

Tags: Saudi Internet, Qatar internet, 'Fake News'

COVID-19: Updated

COVID-19 coverage/issues relating specifically to Muslims and the internet: this section of the blog is now effectively a timeline of key concerns associated with COVID-19. Expect some writing of this in due course, and also a webinar of work-in-progress (in September). Discover More…

Tags: COVID-19, Qom, UAE, Oman, Fatwa, Medicine, hajj, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Saudi Internet, KSA, Palestine, Ireland, Sokoto, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Canadian Muslims, Shi'ism, Iran Internet, Indonesia, Singapore, UAE internet, Kurdish internet, Kurdistan, UAE, Prayer, Ritual, Shrines, Shi'ism, Mosques

Virtually Islamic Blog

Gary R. Bunt

virtuallyislamic.com

Gary R. Bunt

'Hashtag Islam: How Cyber-Islamic Environments Are Transforming Religious Authority'

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