Saudi Arabia has had internet connection since 1994, but restricted its use to state academic, medical, and research institutions. In 1997, King Fahd approved public Internet access and it was not until January 1999 that local internet service providers began connecting ordinary citizens. In 2013, the Women2Drive campaign was arranged entirely through social media platforms: Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. I argue that the effective use of information and communication associated with the internet played a crucial role in aiding this social movement with creating a low-cost protest, garnering high-speed transnational support that, in turn, pressured local and transnational government authorities to address the long standing driving ban for Saudi women.

The act of civil disobedience in which Saudi women have defied the driving ban occurred well before the launch of the Women2Drive campaign. In November 1990, 47 women protested for gender driving equality by driving in the parking lot in Riyadh. The traffic police took them into custody and would not release them until their male guardians signed papers that they would never drive again. Their passports were confiscated, they were suspended from their jobs and they were forbidden to speak to the press. After their civil disobedience, the religious establishment issued a fatwa that officially banned women from driving. 

Movements emerge when activists believe that it might help to achieve their goals, that may not happen otherwise. Likewise, enduring emotionally charged experiences together, such as repression, can foster collective identity, increasing both solidarity and the willingness to engage in high-risk activism. In 2011, Manal al-Sharif co-founded and led the #Women2Drive movement to challenge the ban on women driving in her country. The call to protest the driving ban crystallized on a Women2Drive Facebook page that attracted over 10,000 followers and advanced the public debate about “driving while female.” The platform was used to coordinate and provide logistical details of the October 2013 protest that called on women with international licenses to drive the roads of the Kingdom, with 51 women engaging in the protest. Manal al-Sharif posted a video on YouTube of herself driving and talking about the many issues women faced when it came to commuting in Saudi Arabia. The video brought the movement international exposure. An online petition addressed to King Abdullah was posted on Facebook and other Saudi websites and circulated through emails, asking him to grant women the right to drive. Later, the government accused Manal al-Sharif of attempting to derail the Kingdom; she was imprisoned, lost her job and the custody of her son and self-exiled out of fear of further persecution. In 2017, the driving ban for women was lifted, yet female activists who defied the driving ban remained in prison. In May 2018, Loujain al-Hathloul — a Saudi women’s rights activist, social media influencer and political prisoner who is known for defying the female driving ban — was arrested under the pretense that she had attempted to destabilize the Kingdom. Supporters of Loujain raised awareness of her imprisonment, judicial proceedings and sentencing through hashtags. Using #Al-HathloulStrike, a petition was started calling for her immediate and unconditional release. On Feb. 10, 2021, al-Hathloul's sister announced on Twitter that Loujain had been released from prison and later tweeted that she is subject to many restrictions including a 5 year travel ban.

The male guardianship system is rooted in sanctity and authority. It is a harsh regulation system that controls all aspects of Saudi women’s freedoms, preventing them from enjoying the full benefits of citizenship or legal adulthood. This regulatory system is not prescribed by a legal system; rather, it is based on customary practices and fatwas that limit women’s freedom of movement and choice. Under the strict interpretation of the shariah laws, women must get the permission of a male for a gamut of critical decisions, resulting in them remaining minors for life. 

Opponents of the Women2Drive movement, religious scholars in particular, argued that lifting the driving ban would erode the Saudi system of male guardianship over women and they saw such changes as a moral decline that would, inevitably, harm the family structure. Likewise, Saudi women who were also opponents of the campaign argued that Women2Drive female activists came from an affluent social class, and therefore they did not represent a majority of the Saudi population. They described them as spoiled and privileged in the trusteeship, when men serve women. Princess Jawaher bint, who launched the "My trusteeship system knows what's best for me" campaign, argued that the driving ban aligns with the male trusteeship system and preserves the dignity of Saudi Arabian women. Conversely, Saudi women’s rights activists argued that despite the stark difference in social class, all Saudi women are vulnerable to the negative impact of gender inequalities and the driving ban protest was a part of the fight for freedom from the male guardian legal system.

The Women2Drive protest dynamics were complicated and formed a part of the fight for women’s rights. The grass-roots organization arranged a protest entirely through social media using a Facebook page, YouTube, and Twitter. The Facebook page served as a centralized location for sharing information about the driving ban, logistical information about the 2013 protest and other national socio-political issues. The YouTube videos and the online petition legitimized the organization’s mission and also generated awareness of Saudi Arabia’s social issues. Twitter hashtags amplified the voices of Saudi women’s rights activists by providing a place to communicate, advocate for imprisoned social activists and mobilize their agenda beyond national borders. According to Digitally Enabled Social Change: Activism in the internet age e-tactics were used to reduce the time and money required, increase the speed in which mobilization occurred, pressure the government and demand the freedom of imprisoned activists.

The campaign’s effective use of social media led to the coalescence of a new social movement of individuals concerned with transforming the political structures of the Kingdom, and, ultimately, the lives of girls and women of Saudi Arabia. Previously, disconnected individuals and groups were able to collectively perceive the threat of the driving ban and see the obligation to act, which, in turn, shaped a collective identity. In Italy, a Facebook campaign called “I Drive With Manal” was created. In Berlin, a radical feminist group known as “FEMEN” held a “topless” protest outside the Saudi Arabian Embassy. Hillary Clinton, the United States secretary of the state at the time, openly supported the campaign. Thus, Women2Drive's effective use of the internet motivated activists from other countries to start supporting the cause. 

According to Almahmoud’s “Framing on Twitter: How Saudi Arabians intertextually frame the women2drive campaign,” detractors of the Women2Drive movement also used Twitter to express their antagonistic viewpoints and reinforce religious justifications behind the ban; male Muslim clerics framed the campaign as a conspiracy to dismantle the Saudi morality and political system, warning of a disruptive society and attributing the decline to Western sources. Their exclusive use of Arabic in their tweets helped with appealing to their local community and solidified the men’s framing of the campaign as a conspiracy to undermine Saudi Arabian ethics and religious community; on the other hand, the women who supported the campaign posted tweets in Arabic and sometimes in English, signaling group membership to a wider audience.

At the 2018 SingularityU Nordic Summit in Stockholm, Manal al-Sharif, the co-founder of Women2Drive, deleted her Twitter account and announced that she would no longer use Twitter or any other social media accounts live on stage. She exclaimed that the same social media that had played a vital role in securing her eventual release from prison was now being controlled by oppressive governments to silence and undermine anyone with opposing views. Correspondingly, studies have shown that the algorithms used by YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter push conspiracy theories and far-right propaganda into the feeds of users. She accused the Saudi authorities of blocking and filtering political content from entering the internet and effectively deterring users from seeking access to information by signaling that the government is not pleased with content and is closely monitoring online activity. Likewise, Freedom House — an independent watchdog organization dedicated to the expansion of freedom and democracy around the world — revealed that internet freedom is mostly stagnant or declining in the Arab world. In order to regain internet freedom, Manal al-Sharif argued that citizens around the world must demand that the government and major corporations — specifically Facebook — address the abuse of centralized power, surveillance capitalism, data privacy and other related issues, and that they must show open resistance by boycotting Google search and by always using VPN and a private browser to keep information safe.  

An organization is considered officially dissolved if there is inactivity for five years. A look at the Women2Drive Facebook page reveals that there has not been a post in almost four years. However, at the summit in Stockholm, Manal al-Sharif signaled that there is a need for face-to-face interaction for keeping information safe from government security. Therefore, it is unclear as to whether or not the Women2Drive campaign is in a period of abeyance. The success of the campaign is also elusive. In 2017, the Women2Drive movement accomplished exactly what they wanted; the driving ban was lifted.  However, the male guardian system still remains intact and families are highly patriarchal. Therefore, despite Saudi women having access to driver’s licenses, men still have the ability to limit their mobility. Yet, in fighting for the ban to be lifted, members of the Women2Drive movement have profoundly shaped the conditions of the next political battle.