CEO Richard Gregory explains how privacy, local relevance and culturally aware moderation are shaping Jodel’s growth in Saudi Arabia.
Social media often rewards visibility, polished identities and follower counts, but Jodel is pursuing a different model centred on place, privacy and authentic community engagement. The hyperlocal platform enables users to exchange real-time information, opinions, recommendations and support without relying on public profiles.
Saudi Arabia has emerged as an important growth and learning market for Jodel, driven by digitally sophisticated users seeking privacy, practical value and locally relevant conversations. In this interview, Richard Gregory, CEO of Jodel, discusses the platform’s organic adoption across the Kingdom, the diversity of its city-based communities and the role of human judgement, active moderation, clear rules and the Trust Hub in creating a safer digital environment.
Interview Excerpts
Hyperlocal platforms are reshaping how communities connect online, so what is driving this shift away from global social networks towards neighbourhood-level conversations? Most global social networks begin with your profile, followers and reach. Jodel begins with a place or locality, creating a different kind of conversation. Fewer people feel the need to perform for a public audience. Instead, users seek real answers, genuine opinions and human connection from others who understand their local context. Conversations can be practical, covering traffic, campus life or weekend plans. Others focus on belonging, such as discovering shared feelings, settling into a new city or simply connecting with the surrounding community. Global feeds often struggle to replicate this experience. The value lies in proximity, shared context, and the sense of being understood by those responding. The shift goes beyond smaller communities, moving towards spaces with a genuine, useful quality worth returning to.
Jodel has just launched its Saudi-first Trust Hub, so what prompted this move and how does it change the way users experience safety and transparency on the platform?
The Trust Hub reflects a simple principle: trust is built through transparency.
Users should not have to guess what happens when they report something, how appeals work, or how serious issues are reviewed. We launched a Saudi-first Trust Hub because Saudi Arabia is a highly active and at the same time highly privacy-aware market for Jodel. It was important that our safety information felt clear, accessible and relevant in Arabic and English. For users, the hub is practical. If someone reports harassment, wants to understand moderation, or appeals a post they believe was misunderstood, they’re able to follow what happens next, step by step. For partners and stakeholders, it also gives a clearer view of how Jodel approaches responsible community management.
Your moderation framework blends technology, human expertise, and community governance, so where does localised human judgement make the biggest difference that algorithms alone cannot?
Technology helps us operate at scale, while human judgement provides essential context. This balance is particularly important on a hyperlocal platform, where humour, tone and local references can vary significantly across cities and communities.
We aim to make moderation fast, responsive and culturally aware, supported by clear rules and user controls, so people understand what is expected and how the platform responds.
Saudi Arabia has become one of Jodel’s most important markets. What does the platform’s success in the Kingdom reveal about the digital culture and aspirations of young Saudis?
The honest answer is that we did not choose Saudi Arabia; Saudi Arabia chose us. Users discovered Jodel, adopted the platform and showed us what they needed from it. This experience demonstrates how clearly Saudi users understand their expectations of digital communities. Saudi audiences respond quickly when platforms listen, while many priorities, including local context, privacy and practical value, remain underserved elsewhere.
Young Saudis are digitally sophisticated and highly conscious of privacy. Digital footprints, reputation and context matter, alongside the freedom to participate genuinely without turning every interaction into a public performance.
The Kingdom’s internal diversity has been especially fascinating for us: Riyadh’s pace and ambition, Jeddah’s creativity and humour, Al-Ahsa’s heritage, the mountain culture of Abha and Ta’if, and the distinct rhythms of cities such as Madinah, Tabuk, Buraidah and Najran. Such diversity matters for a hyperlocal platform. Saudi Arabia is not a single conversation; countless conversations unfold across its vast, beautiful and varied cities and communities.
Jodel resonates because it gives people a real-time way to ask questions, share answers, offer recommendations, provide support and understand what is happening nearby. Saudi Arabia is more than a growth market for us; it is also a learning market.
Saudi users are showing us how privacy, humour, local pride, heritage, faith, ambition and digital community can coexist on a modern social platform.
Anonymity and authenticity are often seen as opposing forces online, so how do you build genuine trust in spaces where users do not reveal their identities?
I would frame it differently. On many platforms, identity can hinder authenticity. When a person’s name, face and follower count are attached to every interaction, public performance becomes a natural response. Our no-public-profile model works because clear rules, active moderation and visible user controls support it. The Trust Hub plays an important role by showing how these safeguards work in practice and helping users understand how the platform is managed. Trust develops through the experience itself, allowing people to speak honestly, connect over real local moments and engage with individuals rather than polished profiles.
Source: Tahawul Tech