Saudi Arabia Government Ready To Ban WhatsApp in The Country

Is it just or me or there is a lot of banning/blocking going around Saudi Arabia? Well, whatever the reasons, Saudi Arabia’s Communication and Information Technology Commission (CITC) has decided to show the door to one of the most popular messaging service around the world, WhatsApp.

According to CITC, WhatsApp has failed to comply with the government’s request to place their local servers within the country. Previously, Viber, another messaging platform was given the boot by Saudi government due to it’s policies. CITC has stated clearly that all of the internet based communication platforms and services are under high scrutiny for the last couple of months.

As of now, Skype and BBM are still operational in the Kingdom and other services that have complied with the countries policies are still working as well. So, if you’re a fan of the either WhatsApp or Viber then you should definitely look into some other alternatives that are available, at least for now.

Saudi Arabia vs. The Internet

Saudi Arabia is also known as the “Enemy of Internet” because of its long line of internet censorships. A spokesperson for CTIC told that an official statement will be provided when the WhatsApp ban is in place.

WhatsApp, unlike Viber is a big and popular messaging service used by million of people across the world. This ban could prove to be a major inconvenience for the people in the country and their friends living abroad. Looks like once the ban is in place, users will have no choice but to switch to some other messaging platform.

This is definitely not going to sit well with users, specially during the Holy month of Ramadan. Lets hope the government comes to its senses soon then again YouTube is still banned in Pakistan, so ”coming back to senses” is highly unlikely in these situations.

Do you think a government should have the right to choose what services the people can use or can not use? Let us know.