Mum influencer slammed for ‘dystopian’ post
Several influencers have fled TikTok after they posted glowing videos about a dodgy development that have been slammed as “dystopian”.
When influencer Jessica Herman uploaded to TikTok a video of her typical evening in the futuristic community where she now lives, she likely wasn’t expecting to be so slammed she would be compelled to delete her account.
But add the South African to the ever increasing list of tone deaf influencers who seem to have no idea of life – or actively ignore the reality – outside their privileged bubbles.
“Potentially dystopian,” said one comment on the video. “The stuff of nightmares,” was another.
Ms Herman’s video, entitled “My evening in Neom, Saudi Arabia (as a mum of two),” has now been viewed more than 15 million times on Twitter/X after it vanished from TikTok.
The criticism of Herman is in two parts.
First, that she is glamorising Neom, a much criticised $730 billion new community being built in the Saudi Arabian desert which has been slammed as a vanity project with poor conditions for workers and locals and championed by authoritarian rulers in a country that has little regard for human rights.
The second is that for a very expensive mega project “eco city” of the future it looks, well, distinctly meh.
The centrepiece of Neom is planned to be The Line, a bizarre horizontal city 170km long housing showing nine million people linked by a train zooming along at 500 km/h.
‘Community one’
Herman’s clip seems to be part of a concerted effort by the Saudi Arabian authorities to get influencers to spruik their desert city safe in the knowledge they will ignore any of the pesky issues plaguing Neom.
We see Herman bustle her kids up and take them for a walk in the distinctly temporary and non-futuristic area called, somewhat ominously, “Community one”.
It looks a town FIFO workers might live in while on shift in Western Australia. Serviceable, yes; a vision of the future, nah.
Which isn’t surprising as she is likely in the workers temporary camp. It’s hardly giving future vibes.
She then shows us around the post office which looks like a post office but in a shipping container.
‘We have the best fruit’
And then a communal dining hall which is less fine dining and more all you can hostel buffet.
“We have the best fruit,” she says lingering over some dragon fruit and strawberries, none of which likely grow in the dunes surrounding Neom and so are imported for far afield. Which isn’t all that “eco”.
She describes her son letting off some steam on patch of grass after dinner. Again, grass in the desert suggests some not very ecological decisions have been made.
“This is my favourite time of the day,” she says as the sun sets.
Backlash
“Low security prison vibes,” was a comment on Twitter/X.
“Looks nothing like a place anyone sane would want to live the rest of one’s life,” said another.
“I mean, when your main and only restaurant is called ‘dining hall’, for the love of god”.
“All very Soviet,” said a commenter.
Herman is not the only mum influencer who appears to have cropped up in Neom’s workers camp.
Aida McPherson posted a video where she described heading to Starbucks with “the girls,” then to a McDonalds and finally to a shopping centre that sports a branch of H&M.
However, McPherson does at least explain that where she lives is a construction camp and her husband is working on the project.
A number of the Neom influencers have now set their TikTok accounts to private after the backlash they received.
A key issue is not that Neom’s “community one” is soulless, it’s that the entire development is questionable, potentially full of holes, a money pit and marred by controversy.
There are concerns that the huge size and shape of Neom’s The Line will not only be carbon intensive, going against its green credentials, but could even create a barrier to local ecosystems and be dangerous for wildlife.
Some of the environmental boasts seem unachievable or not based on currently available technology.
‘Civilisational revolution’
This year there were reports, denied by Neom, that The Line has been scaled back from 170km long to just 3km because there were few investors interested in funding it.
Then there are human rights concerns. To even start building The Line, for insistence, hundreds of villagers wert forcibly removed from their homes which were then razed to the ground.
Three men were sentenced to death by the Saudi authorities for refusing to leave their homes.
Another three men have died building Neom. Controversy also flared when an executive working on the project complained about having a meeting on a Sunday night because a “whole bunch of people died,” reported the Wall Street Journal.
The executive also reportedly said workers form the Indian subcontinent were mostly “F****ing morons”.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been quoted as claiming the city in the desert will be a “civilisational revolution”.
But for others it just seems like a vanity project to try and put Saudi Arabia on the map and distract form the country’s poor human rights record.
Remember this is the country which executed journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside its embassy and then chopped up the body.
But none of those criticisms or concerns have found their way onto the TikToks of the influencers living in the beginnings on Neom.
For them, it’s mostly about sunsets and Starbucks.
And, for that, they’re getting more push back then they surely could have imagined.
‘F*** you’: Nation’s first lady insults Musk
Brazil’s First Lady has sworn at Elon Musk at a G20 Social event in Rio de Janeiro. The billionaire responded to the insult on X.
Call for more laws on social media giants
An inquiry into the effects of social media has found tech giants should be hit with tighter regulation, as the Coalition calls for tougher measures.
‘Weapons’: Parents’ plea after 12yo suicide
The parents of 12-year-old Charlotte O’Brien have called for a big change in social media laws after her death rocked the country.