The ban late last year came after an almost year-long investigation that concluded that the users had close connections to "external parties", and that these links were a source of "serious concern for the safety" of users, said the Wikimedia Foundation. Beirut-based digital rights group SMEX and human rights group Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) said that Saudi authorities had recruited Wikipedia's most reputed administrators in the country to control information about the kingdom.

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