Clubhouse gives Arabs a space to speak freely

THE CONVERSATIONS can feel almost rebellious. Drift through the rooms and you hear heated talk of politics, business and religion. There is a frisson of flirtation too, with discussions about sex veiled in thin metaphors. And every so often someone stops to wonder when the police will crash through the door.Clubhouse, a buzzy social-media app launched last year, was perfectly timed for the pandemic era. It is an audio-only service where users drop in and out of “rooms” for voice chats. Think of an endless smorgasbord of Zoom calls, but with faceless strangers instead of pixelated colleagues. Nothing goes viral because the chats are ephemeral: users cannot record or replay them.