Social media and technology company Snap Inc on Sunday said that Saudi Arabia had asked it to remove the Al Jazeera Discover Publisher Channel in the country as it violates local laws, Reuters reported. “We make an effort to comply with local laws in the countries where we operate,” an unidentified Snapchat spokesperson said on the social media company’s decision to remove the Qatar–backed channel.
On September 9, Saudi Arabia suspended all talks with Qatar, accusing the country of “distorting facts”. The announcement was made an hour after a phone call between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.
The call was the first official contact between Doha and Riyadh since Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain severed diplomatic ties with Qatar in June. Doha had rejected their 13-point list of demands and condemned them as an attempt to infringe Qatar’s sovereignty. One of the demands was the complete shut down of television network Al Jazeera.
In August, Israel’s Communications Minister Ayoub Kara said Jerusalem wants to shut down Al Jazeera’s offices in the capital city and revoke the credentials of its journalists. The minister accused the network of “supporting terrorism”.
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