Women can finally drive in Saudi Arabia, but they still can’t travel freely. An app is ensuring that stays the case.
In an open letter to Apple’s Tim Cook and Google’s Sundar Pichai, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., asked the CEOs to immediately remove the app Absher, which allows men to track women in the kingdom.
The app is available on both Google Play and the Apple app store. Under Saudi “guardianship laws,” every woman has a male guardian. With Absher, that guardian can track the woman by her national ID or passport, restricting her travel through airports and preventing her from leaving the country. He can even get a text message whenever she goes through an airport.
In the letter released earlier this week, Wyden said the companies are “making it easier for Saudi men to control their family members from the convenience of their smartphones.” Wyden is right, and Apple and Google would do well to fulfill his request.
The app is operated by the Saudi Ministry of Interior’s National Information Center, and it markets itself as a simple eServices platform. Commenters on Google Play said it facilitated renewing passports or IDs.
But Absher, which has been downloaded more than 1 million times on the platform, got a slew of one-star reviews after Wyden’s letter. “[I] just downloaded this app just to give 1 star rating,” one commenter wrote. Another called it “an abuse of human rights.”
As private companies, Apple and Google can provide what they want on their platforms, but they should listen to their consumers. Even if Absher does help Saudis with government documents, it also facilitates the oppression of women.
Despite what Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman would have you think, the app is not that innocent. The name “Absher,” roughly translated, means “yes sir.”
