Saudi Arabia telecom regulator is set to block WhatsApp in the Kingdom ‘in days’. (File photo: AFP)
Saudi Arabia’s Communication and Information Technology Commission (CITC) is set to suspend WhatsApp smartphone application in the Kingdom within days, high-level sources told the Al-Hayat newspaper.
Communication between the CITC and the California-based WhatsApp showed that the company behind the free-messaging application refused to meet the regulator’s requests, reported the newspaper.
If banned, WhatsApp would not be the first web-based communication service to be blocked, as Viber application was already suspended in June. The CITC said in a statement that the Viber block was due to it failing to meet operational requirements.
Earlier in March, CITC announced that it was reviewing a number of internet-based free communications applications, including Skype, Viber, and WhatsApp, among others.
