MomTok tried to make Neom look like paradise, and it backfired spectacularly

A series of day-in-the-life vlogs from mom influencers on TikTok tried to paint Saudi Arabia’s mega project as a desert paradise. The internet had other opinions.

Promotion for Neom, the upwards of $500 billion, 10,000-square-mile region under construction in Saudi Arabia, has always been a little off. There are the videos touting Neom’s 105-mile-long city, The Line; and the reality-defying renderings showing off a litany of luxury spaces including the golf resort Gidori. Now, though, it seems like Neom’s marketing team might be using a tried-and-true tactic to sell the special economic zone as the world’s next great city: MomTok.