Son of Saudi Arabia’s richest man blasts Meta: ‘Taking us for a ride’

Saudi Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed Al Saud, son of Saudi Arabia’s richest man,  Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, has blasted Meta for ignoring online scams and focusing only on profit. His reaction came after reports emerged about fake accounts that impersonated his sister, Princess Reem bint Alwaleed, defrauded people on Facebook and Instagram.

Prince Khaled said social media companies claim they are unable to manage  “fraudulent bad actors” who con unsuspecting people out of money. “I am really well-versed with technology, and these companies have astounding capabilities. To state otherwise is really just taking us for a ride,” Prince Khaled told Arabian Business in an exclusive interview.

The Kingdom Holding Company (KHC), owned by Prince Khaled’s family, has significant tech investments and stakes in Snapchat and xAI (Elon Musk's AI startup). It also had investments, including early stakes in Apple, Motorola, Netscape, and Twitter (now X). A tech enthusiast, Prince Khaled has been very vocal about bringing tech to the lives of Saudis, including in healthcare.

His open attack on Meta comes as his team raised an alarm about fraudulent pages that use his sister’s name to seek “cash investments”, in many cases as little as 100 Dirhams, from citizens.

Prince Khaled alleged that despite his team compiling and submitting a detailed dossier of fraudulent accounts across multiple platforms, Meta ignored his team’s reports. That is when both X and Snapchat did a clean sweep. “The social media companies only install salespeople here in the region,” he said, adding that Meta “doesn’t bother setting up trust and security arms because they are only concerned with profiting off of our digital interests.”

Meta reported profits of $62.36 billion in 2024, the report added.

Prince Khaled also questioned the commitment of Meta to the people, stating he had a full communications and digital team, but not every ordinary person. “What does a person do if they don’t have a team to deal with this? They can do nothing. They are victimised and they have no hope of getting help. Where is the commitment to the region? Where is the commitment to the people?” he told Arabian Business.

On TikTok’s response, he said that though the firm was initially not enthusiastic, they later took action after “a lot of back and forth.”

He also called on regulators in Saudi Arabia and the UAE to investigate the platforms’ handling of impersonation and fraud, saying their “take-take-take” relationship with the Gulf must end. “They make extraordinary sums here, but when it comes to protecting our citizens, they hide behind excuses. It’s time for accountability,” he added.

 

Middle East