Al Jazeera Media Network yesterday expressed dismay at social media platform Snapchat's decision to block its Discover Publisher Channel in Saudi Arabia.

It may be recalled that Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt, which cut diplomatic ties with Qatar and imposed sanctions on the country on June 5, also blocked their residents' access to Al Jazeera websites.

Officials from the news network described the Snapchat move as "alarming and worrying", and urged the US-based social media company to review the decision.

"Al Jazeera Media Network expresses its dismay at Snapchat’s decision to block its Discover channel in Saudi Arabia. It is deplorable that a renowned global social media platform like Snap Inc starts censoring media content in order to submit to pressures from Saudi authorities. This action is a direct attack against the freedom of expression and will have detrimental consequences to the media industry," Al Jazeera said in a statement yesterday, as reported by the official Qatar News Agency.

Saudi Arabia told the social media company that the Al Jazeera Discover Publisher Channel violated local laws, according to media reports. "We make an effort to comply with local laws in the countries where we operate," a Snapchat spokesperson said in a statement on Sunday.

Al Jazeera said the Snapchat decision comes at a time when Al Jazeera Media Network and other media institutions "are under attack in the Middle East and face calls for their shutdown by some Arab countries".

The network's acting director-general, Mostefa Souag, denounced the move, saying: "We find Snapchat's action to be alarming and worrying. This sends a message that regimes and countries can silence any voice or platform they don't agree with by exerting pressure on the owners of social media platforms and content distribution companies.

"This step is a clear attack on the rights of journalists and media professionals to report and cover stories freely from around the world."

He continued, "We at Al Jazeera object to any form of censorship and restrictions to freedom of the media and the right to access information. We call on Snap Inc and other global media organisations to reject demands of oppressive regimes to silence journalists. We would like to remind Snap Inc that this decision violates the US constitution, American laws and values of democracy.

"By blocking Al Jazeera's Discover Channel, our followers in Saudi Arabia are denied the ability to follow our broad range of stories and coverage."

Al Jazeera launched its Arabic channel on Snapchat Discover in May and continued to provide a wide variety of stories to its audiences in the Mena region with growing number of followers, the statement noted.

Morad Rayyan, head of Incubation and Innovation Research at Al Jazeera, said the move by Snapchat was "unprecedented".

"Snapchat is a US-based company, publicly traded, and it stands for freedom of expression. We are working on contingency plans to ensure our content is available on other platforms," Rayyan said. "We are urging them (Snapchat) to review the decision that was made. They were the ones who invited us to be one of their news partners for the region."

There are about 8mn Snapchat users in Saudi Arabia, one of the largest audiences in the world for the social platform.

The decision to remove Al Jazeera was first reported by the Wall Street Journal on Sunday.

The conflict is the latest example of a technology company being pinned in the crosshairs of geopolitics as it navigates censorship of content on its platforms, the Wall Street Journal reported.

In March 2015, Saudi Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal, chairman of Kingdom Holding Company (KHC), received Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel in Saudi Arabia to discuss "future potential business co-operation with Snap".

However, it remains unclear whether KHC ever invested in the company.

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