TikTok influencers are being mocked for showing off life in the Saudi Arabian city of Neom, a controversial futuristic development being built in the desert.
The development’s signature project, The Line, envisions a fully renewable energy-based, car-free city where “people’s health and wellbeing will be prioritized over transportation and infrastructure.”
Dubbed the future of urban living, the project recently got scaled back. It is expected to be largely completed by 2039.
But the development, launched in 2017, is controversial.
According to a report by the BBC, Saudi Arabian authorities authorized the use of lethal force to clear land for the city.
In 2020, one activist who lived in the al-Huwaitat tribal area being cleared was shot and killed. State Security forces claim he opened fire and they were forced to retaliate. One activist from the same tribe denied the man owned firearms.
Separately, three members of the same tribe received death sentences for their roles in opposing the city’s development.
In spite of the controversy, as well as the city’s unfinished state, some expats are currently living in Neom.
And they are documenting the city on TikTok.
Who is living in Neom Community 1?
According to the development’s website, current residents in Neom include employees, their families, and commercial partners from more than 100 different nationalities.
The apparent Neom influencers have been widely mocked for their flattering videos of the city, with one TikToker deleting her account after one video went viral for all the wrong reasons.
In it, she shows her and her sons meeting her husband for dinner at the city’s dining hall.
“We are having such beautiful weather lately, it’s finally cooling down,” she says as she steps outside her home.
“So this is a little bit what Neom Community 1 looks like,” she says as she walks past all similar-looking buildings with no cars and few people in sight.
She stops at the post office before going to a building prominently labeled “dining hall.”
The food appeared to be buffet-style, and she boasted, “ugh we have the best fruit here.”
“We also have the best sunsets here,” she added at the end of the video.
On X, the TikTok seems to be doing the opposite of influencing people to have a positive view of the city.
“Low-security prison vibes,” quipped one user.
“Felt like I was watching a reel of a Mars colony,” wrote someone else.
“This looks like a medical facility. for when you get a degenerative brain disease,” replied another user.
“Her saying ‘we have the best fruit here’ has this exact energy,” joked someone else who referenced a post about “not involved in human trafficking” T-shirt raising questions. “I wasn’t wondering if you had fruit until you brought it up.”
“Walking through an empty scalding hot parking lot with my toddler children to go eat at a space mining colony dining hall >>>>>>” another person reacted.
But it’s not just one singular TikTok promoting the city.
Another expat made a similar video showing off the city—though most of the comments under it are positive.
@juliasaudiarabia Welcome home🤍 You know this place?☺️ #neom #CapCut ♬ original sound – tr4c3rm0m
Two other TikTokers made their accounts private after posting videos.
One woman showed herself getting a drink at Starbucks and taking a bus to a nearby mall.
Another user’s brand is entirely Neom content, with her bio describing herself as a “NEOM Enthusiast.”
That user posted a TikTok showing a number of expats living in Neom sharing what they miss when they’re away. She, too, went private.
@ggneom Of course we do miss NEOM for many other reason. NEOM IS THE BEST PLACE TO BE INNNN ☺️ LOVE NEOM #neom #saudiarabia #tabuk #khobar #riyadh ♬ original sound – GGNEOM
And everyone agrees the videos are not organic.
“The Saudis seem to be marketing Neom as some kind of planned suburb/encampment for wealthy Westerners,” concluded one.
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