It’s been a while since we last heard about Neom, an ambitious urban area being built by Saudi Arabia that features The Line as its most spectacular city. The project is part of Saudi Vision 2030 and involves an investment of $500 billion. The silence surrounding the project was apparently due to conflicts among its executives and investors. In a surprising turn, the futuristic city is now getting help from influencers.
What happened? The Saudi government had envisioned that Neom’s megacity, The Line (a long, narrow city flanked by tall, mirrored skyscrapers), would be completed and attract 1.5 million residents by 2030. However, like many projects of this scale, there have been delays and budget reductions.
To promote the city, a large number of vloggers and influencers have recently been sharing their experiences in the still-developing desert city on social media. However, the posts haven’t been very successful as an advertising campaign to attract new residents.
Living in Neom today. Residents have revealed that there’s still much progress to be made in Neom. This is the case of Jessica Herman, a vlogger with 17,000 TikTok followers who often posts about her life in the developing area. In one video, she shows what a typical evening in the Neom Community 1 looks like. In it, she’s seen getting her kids ready in her industrial apartment, walking through seemingly empty streets and prefabricated housing units, and dining with her family in a modern “dining hall.”
Other mom vloggers living in Neom in recent months, such as Sara Sarasid (24,000 TikTok followers) and Aida McPherson (28,000 followers), have shared similar experiences. Despite the apparent happiness of these families, the reality is quite different from the glamour they aim to portray. The surroundings appear rather grim and industrial.
Criticism. The influencers’ videos have swiftly received a wave of criticism on social media. One user, Joshua Hind, shared this in response to Herman’s video: “After all the hype and renderings, Neom is nothing more than a bland expat compound built so Westerners can work in KSA [Kingdom of Saudi Arabia].”
ABC News journalist Matt Bevan garnered a lot of attention with a post on X that has been viewed more than 2.5 million times. He wrote, “Oh wow, this looks great. I’ve always dreamed of living in an industrial estate on the surface of the Sun.” Others on the platform described the views on Neom as “joyless and dreary” or likened them to “a Mars colony” and having “low-security prison vibes.”
Who actually lives there? This is the question. However, this is certainly a project that’s still under development, and the influencers’ videos show what seem to be temporary developments that have been set up while the city is under construction.
It’s also unclear whether Herman, her husband, or the other vloggers are government employees or if they’re paid to document their lives in the city. In fact, several hours after media outlets reported on her videos, Herman deactivated her TikTok account.
What’s up with Neom? The recent news about the project wasn’t what you would expect from a project of this scale. The project seemed to fall apart in June before it became a reality after some logistic delays. In August, BBC reported that Saudi authorities had been given permission to kill any local villagers who opposed eviction orders to clear the region for development. According to the media outlet, one person was shot dead after protesting.
Most recently, The Wall Street Journal published an exclusive report detailing the turmoil within the project. The report described physical altercations between executives, as well as allegations of racism, misogyny, and corruption. It was also reported that an executive said during a call, “A whole bunch of people die so we’ve got to have a meeting on a Sunday night.” This executive has since been replaced.
Amid these issues, the costs of the investment appear to be increasing, prompting Saudi authorities to consider “recalibrating” the project. The situation has become a cause for concern within the Saudi government.
Image | Jessica Ashley Herman
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