Snapchat blocks Al Jazeera in Saudi Arabia
Snapchat has removed Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera from its picture messaging app in Saudi Arabia at the request of Saudi authorities.
The request to block the Al Jazeera's Snapchat presence in the kingdom was made before the weekend, the company said.
"We make an effort to comply with local laws in the countries where we operate," a spokesperson for Snapchat's parent company Snap said.
According to Snapchat, the Saudi ministry of culture and information found Al Jazeera's Discover Publisher Story channel to be in violation of local laws. The Discover platform allows users to view short news and entertainment videos from publishers on the app.
Saudi Arabia and its allies the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt have been boycotting Qatar since June 5 in the region's worst diplomatic crisis in years.
They sealed the country's only land border, ordered its citizens to leave and closed their airspace and waters to Qatari flights and shipping.
They also demanded that it close broadcasting giant Al-Jazeera. The state-backed news organisation has been seen as propaganda tool by rival Middle East states.
Until now, Al Jazeera's Snapchat channel can still be viewed in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt.
Saudi Arabia, with its bulging youth population, is among the world's top users of social media per capita. The internet represents a limited space for freedom of expression in the conservative kingdom.
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