In June, Saudi Arabia lifted its female driving ban, giving women a little more freedom to move around the country. Ride-hailing services like Uber quickly jumped on the new opportunity to have female drivers navigate the city. However, Uber gained feedback showing that Saudi women Uber drivers preferred to only drive women. In response, Uber launched a pilot program allowing them to do so. That program has now gone live across the country today, according to Engadge t. Preferences of women only wanting to drive other women come as no surprise. Ride-hailing apps are no strangers to incidents of women passengers and drivers being harassed and assaulted . This year, Saudi women have seen slight improvements within the country.  In January, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) announced that women would be notified about marital status changes via text message. The recent move was meant to offset the trend of men separating from their wives without telling them. Despite interventions aimed at...

Netflix pulled a “Patriot Act With Hasan Minhaj” episode that was critical of Saudi Arabia after the Saudi government said the company violated the country’s cybercrime laws, according to the Financial Times. “Patriot Act With Hasan Minhaj” features stand-up comedy by Minhaj that incorporates political and social commentary. For his “Saudi Arabia” episode he criticized Saudi Arabia and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s involvement in the killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Minhaj also encouraged major American companies including Uber and Softbank to stop taking money from the country. The Saudi government cited Article 6 of its Anti-Cyber Crime Law which prohibits “the production, preparation, transmission, or storage of material impinging on public order, religious values, public morals, and privacy through the information network or computers.” Article 6 also prohibits online human trafficking, gambling, pornographic material and drug trades. Journalists in...