The rapid growth of the entertainment industry in Saudi Arabia has sparked a debate over progress in the conservative Kingdom and what it signifies.

After lifting a 35-year cinema ban, the country hosted its first ever international film festival last week. Not only that, but Bollywood superstar Salman Khan also held his Dabangg tour in Riyadh which was followed by Justin Bieber’s performance to a crowded concert in Jeddah.

These events were organised in a bid to move in line with the Saudi Vision 2030 reform plans formulated by the crown prince Muhammad Bin Salman. The vision strives to make Saudi Arabia a vibrant society, a thriving economy, and an ambitious nation.

But not everyone is on board.

People on social media are criticizing the country for opening its doors to entertainment.

The entertainment events come after the kingdom declared a ban on a Tablighi Jammat, called Al Ahbab, calling it a “danger to society” and “one of the gates of terrorism.”

This didn’t sit well with users online. The called it the country’s “hypocrisy.”

But these moves have also received some support and praise for the kingdom “moving forward.”

Muhammad Bin Salman lifted the ban from musical concerts when he took over the kingdom in 2017.

The first non-Arab artists to play a stadium in Saudi Arabia were Korean boyband BTS. The K-pop group held a concert at Riyadh’s King Fahd International Stadium in 2019 which was attended by thousands of people.

Justin Bieber who performed at a concert in Jeddah as part of Grand Prix events, was urged by human rights activists to cancel his performance. The fiancee of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Hatice Cengiz wrote an open letter to the Canadian pop-start asking him to "send a powerful message" by pulling out.

Khashoggi who was a critic of the Saudi regime, was murdered at its consulate in Istanbul in October 2018. MBS is widely believed to be behind the brutal murder.

"Do not sing for the murderers of my beloved Jamal," Ms Cengiz wrote in the letter, published in the Washington Post.

The pleas however, were disregarded by Bieber.

Given these international events, one big question arises: Is Saudi Arabia truly changing course?

According to professor at the Middle East Institute of the London School of Economics Madawi al-Rasheed, holding international film festivals and racing Formula 1 cars is the crowned prince’s attempts to “convince his neighbours that he is now a man of peace, rather than a young, boisterous leader who antagonised many would-be regional allies during his first years in office.”