FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP via Getty Images
- Activists say that tech firms could become complicit in Saudi surveillance and repression.
- Firms including Microsoft and Google are creating cloud storage centers in the kingdom.
- But Saudi Arabia has weak privacy laws and a track record of persecuting dissidents.
At a lavish conference in Riyadh, in February, representatives from some of the world's biggest tech companies gathered.
The event was part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's "Vision 2030" plan to transform Saudi Arabia, best known for its oil reserves and ultraconservative interpretation of Islam, into a hub for tech and innovation.