Saudi Arabia has always been very grumpy when it comes to free internet communications. We’re all familiar with their long battle with Blackberry to ban BBM and BB services. Similarly, iPhone users will also be familiar with the fact that they can’t use FaceTime and iMessage in the country as its blocked. And now its WhatsApp’s turn. Local papers report that the Communications and Information Technology Commission, or CITC, will pull the plug on WhatsApp within weeks unless the company falls in line with their rules. Abdullah Al-Darrab, the governor of the CITC, told Arab News they have been talking to WhatsApp and other similar platforms to get them to cooperate and comply, and nothing has come of it. Asked when the block happens, he said its highly likely before Ramadan, which is expected to start July 9.
If you were wondering what these rules actually are, nobody is spelling them out. What the CITC wants is local servers so usage can be monitored, exactly like the Blackberry episode in 2010. Viber already got the axe on June 5 for not meeting the regulatory requirements and laws of Saudi Arabia, and Skype is on the list too. STC, Mobily and Zain will be the ones doing the blocking, and they wont be too sad about it since these apps eat into their international call and SMS money.
Stay tuned, we’ll let you know the moment it goes dark.
Partly reconstructed with AI. This post’s full text was lost when the site went offline. Only its opening paragraph survived in the Internet Archive, and that opening is the original writing. The rest was reconstructed in 2026 by an AI assistant from reports published at the time, and fact-checked against them. Sources used: arabnews.com, en.zamanalwsl.net, ibtimes.co.in, english.alarabiya.net, mobileworldlive.com.
