Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) of Saudi Arabia has ambitious plans to build a modern utopia in the desert – a city valued at one trillion dollars called NEOM. Through glossy brochures and public statements, MBS has promised a futuristic experience in the zero-carbon city featuring a vertical sky scraper, glow-in-the-dark beaches, ski slopes, an artificial moon, robot butlers, and flying taxis.
Behind this utopian vision, however, is a darker reality. MBS has been strengthening his ties with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who has agreed to provide powerful surveillance technology. This technology could be used to enable invasive monitoring and control of NEOM’s nine million future population.
In the past, the Chinese government has implemented ‘safe cities’ in Egypt and Serbia, which run on user data collected from surveillance cameras and facial recognition technology. This data can then be used to track an individual’s past and real-time movements.
Now, NEOM could take this data collection further, using 90% of available user data as opposed to the 10% often seen in other smart cities. NEOM’s executive director, Giles Penderton, aims to have the city up and running by 2045.
However, digital rights advocates caution about the potential risk to people’s privacy that this data collection carries. Chinese telecoms giant Huawei have already signed contracts with the Saudi government, including in NEOM.
Human Rights Watch has raised concerns over the weaknesses of Saudi Arabia’s data-privacy laws and the possibility of them being abused by the authoritarian leader. MBS is also known for his brutality towards critics – the 2018 murder and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi was an example of this.
All the while, MBS has sought to project himself as a reformer, pushing for a technological modernization of the kingdom and claiming to open it up for investment and innovation. But in reality, this modernization could be used to further strengthen his own power as he continues to control security services, curbing dissent and crushing any criticism.
James Shires, a researcher at Chatham House think tank, explains that NEOM is a ticket for MBS to enshrine himself as the ruler that modernized the country and ushered it into a new era. While NEOM’s brochures present a luxurious vision of the future, experts are warning that it could serve as a tool to enable surveillance and authoritarian control. Whether or not the ambitions of the crown prince will be realized remains to be seen.
Huawei is a Chinese multinational technology manufacturing company that produces a range of high-tech telecommunications and devices. It has two divisions, a consumer products division and a Carrier business division. Although it is a truly global company, it is privately owned and funded by its founders and by the Chinese government. As such, it has become a flash point in the tense global politics, with many countries raising concerns over the security of Huawei technologies.
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Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) is the Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He has been leading many economic and sociopolitical reforms in the country, and has emerged as one of the most influential figures in the Middle East region. He is best known for his Vision 2030 program, which looks to diversify the Saudi economy and reduce the country’s reliance on oil. He also has ambitious plans to build a trillion-dollar futuristic utopia in the desert, an idea that is being criticized by some due to its potential for supporting authoritarian control.
