Global image messaging service Snapchat has blocked Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera from its app in Saudi Arabia at the request of Saudi authorities, the company said on Monday.

“We make an effort to comply with local laws in the countries where we operate,” a spokesman for parent company Snap Inc said.

The request to block Al Jazeera's Snapchat presence in the kingdom was made before the weekend, the company told AFP.

According to Snap Inc, the Saudi ministry of culture and information found Al Jazeera's Discover Publisher Story channel to be in violation of local laws.

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 have sealed the emirate'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.

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.

Opinion

Editorial

By-election trends
Updated 23 Apr, 2024

By-election trends

Unless the culture of violence and rigging is rooted out, the credibility of the electoral process in Pakistan will continue to remain under a cloud.
Privatising PIA
23 Apr, 2024

Privatising PIA

FINANCE Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb’s reaffirmation that the process of disinvestment of the loss-making national...
Suffering in captivity
23 Apr, 2024

Suffering in captivity

YET another animal — a lioness — is critically ill at the Karachi Zoo. The feline, emaciated and barely able to...
Not without reform
Updated 22 Apr, 2024

Not without reform

The problem with us is that our ruling elite is still trying to find a way around the tough reforms that will hit their privileges.
Raisi’s visit
22 Apr, 2024

Raisi’s visit

IRANIAN President Ebrahim Raisi, who begins his three-day trip to Pakistan today, will be visiting the country ...
Janus-faced
22 Apr, 2024

Janus-faced

THE US has done it again. While officially insisting it is committed to a peaceful resolution to the...