Snapchat censors the news in Saudi Arabia

As a former journalist in the Middle East and one that continues to check out what is happening to journalism in the region, the move towards mixing the media and foreign policy in a very clear way is disturbing. While it is not surprising for the media to be mixed up with politics, as this is always been the case, it is disturbing when one form of social media bans different opinions from its platform.

This is what the Wall Street Journal says about it.

Snapchat Removes Al Jazeera Channel in Saudi Arabia

Snap says it is complying with local law; Al Jazeera calls move an ‘attempt to silence freedom of expression’

Snap, trying to grow its popularity as a destination for news articles and videos, is encountering new questions around the potential for government censorship of that news on its social-media app.

By Douglas MacMillan

Sept. 17, 2017 11:13 p.m.

Snap Inc. SNAP -2.16% on Sunday said it has followed a request from the Saudi Arabian government to block access to Al Jazeera news articles and videos on its Snapchat social-media app to residents in the country.

Al Jazeera’s Arabic-language channel in Snapchat Discover, which had been available since May, was removed from the Saudi Arabian version of the app, a spokeswoman from Snap said. Al Jazeera articles remain open to Snapchat users in 14 other countries in the Middle East.

Snap’s decision could inflame tensions between the Qatari broadcaster and the four neighboring countries that have imposed an economic blockade on Qatar. In a statement, a spokesman for Al Jazeera said Snap’s move appears to be “an attempt to silence freedom of expression.”

Qatari businesses are facing pressure after Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates abruptly broke diplomatic ties with the nation in June, accusing it of sheltering and supporting Islamist

Qatar’s adversaries issued a list of 13 demands, including shutting down Al Jazeera for news coverage they see as biased against them. Al Jazeera said its website and apps have been blocked in Saudi Arabia since May.

Snap, trying to expand its popularity as a destination for news articles and videos, is encountering a new challenge in the form of potential government censorship of that news. A spokeswoman for Snap said in an email that the company removed Al Jazeera’s channel to obey local laws.

“We make an effort to comply with local laws in the countries where we operate,” the Snap spokeswoman said.

U.S. tech giants have wrestled with the question of how to deal with oppressive regimes who seek to censor or limit the free speech and free access to information their services typically provide. Google pulled its web-search engine out of mainland China in 2010 after a confrontation with state officials who sought to censor its search results, ceding a chance for growth in the world’s largest internet market but setting an example it hoped would resonate in future standoffs between tech firms and foreign power

The Middle East has attracted tech firms looking to court its fast-growing internet population as well as its oil-rich investors. Saudi Arabia and Qatar run two of the largest sovereign-wealth funds in the world and have shown interest in ramping up Silicon Valley investments.

However, operating in the region poses potential threats to civil liberties and press freedoms. Saudi Arabia ranked 168th out of the 180 countries tracked in Reporters Without Borders’ 2017 World Press Freedom Index. The country has no independent media and frequently charges professional journalists for insulting religion or the king, the nonprofit group said.

Snap said it received the request from Saudi Arabia’s communications regulator on Sept. 13, stating that Al Jazeera’s presence in Snapchat’s Discover news service violated local laws related to published material and anti-cyber crime. The company reviewed the content and four days later informed Al Jazeera it would block it from the Discover section of the Saudi Arabian version of the app.

Al Jazeera, which is still permitted to post messages as a user of the app, said it is seeking more clarity about why Snap suspended its services.

“The fundamental question that Al Jazeera is asking is, how could a U.S. company which is publicly traded, and which stands for freedom of speech where access to social media is a constitutional right, deny these rights to others?” a spokesman for the news agency said in an email.

Snap has, like other large internet firms over the past decade, become more transparent about law-enforcement requests for its data. In the first half of 2017, none of the 201 requests for data made by international authorities came from Saudi Arabia, according to the company.