DR4G Project
Digital rights research, investigations, case studies and human rights analysis from the Gulf region.
Explore our digital rights research and investigations.
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Google and Big Tech: From “Don’t be Evil” to “Ethically Flexible”
In February 2025, Google quietly removed a long standing pledge from its AI Principles: the commitment not to build artificial intelligence for weapons or surveillance…
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Platform Compliance in the Middle East: How Opaque Content Moderation Enables Quiet Authoritarian Censorship
Across the MENA region, particularly in the Gulf, political speech increasingly disappears from major platforms not through court orders or explicit bans, but through opaque…
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The Gulf’s Smart City Future is Built on Total Surveillance
Across the Gulf, governments are racing to reinvent themselves as hyper-efficient “smart cities”, supported by a growing reliance on digital services, automation, and AI-driven public…
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State Immunity in the Age of Spyware: Bahrain’s Case Before the UK Supreme Court
A decade-old spyware operation conducted by Bahrain is now at the centre of a landmark case before the UK Supreme Court. The outcome could determine…
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Saudi Arabia’s Persecution Beyond Borders: the Case of Human Rights Defender Al-Khalidi
Saudi human rights defender and online political activist Abdulrahman Al-Khalidi, detained in Bulgaria since 2021, faces a forced deportation order to Saudi Arabia, placing him…
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Digital Threats, Real Trauma: What Most Recent Study Reveals About the Mental Toll of Online Persecution
In an increasingly connected world, the line between physical and digital space is no longer clear; especially for dissidents, journalists, and activists. While a lot…
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Biometric Surveillance and Personal Data Protection in the Gulf: A Growing Human Rights Concern
Over the past decade, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have been enacting Personal Data Protection Laws (PDPLs) in order to better regulate the collection…
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How Digital Spaces Reinforce Gender Violence in Saudi Arabia
Since 2019, Saudi Arabia has lifted many of the restrictions imposed on women under the male guardianship system, with Crown Prince MBS praising these measures…
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From Egypt to the Gulf: How Regional Cybercrime Laws Are Criminalizing Peaceful Dissent
The arbitrary detention of Egyptian journalist Ismail Iskandarani over recent Facebook posts, just two days after President Sisi pardoned six imprisoned activists, exposes Egypt’s harsh…