Herdict Takes Off in Saudi Arabia!

Since the launch of Herdict Arabic last week, the Herdict team has been excited to see Saudi Arabia trot to the front of the herd (with 1,854 reports in the past seven days, 914 of which are inaccessible). Although the inaccessibility reports indicate trends in filtering (see ONI’s report on Saudi Arabia here), such reports also indicate a desire in Saudi Internet users to share and discuss the issue.

The most reported inaccessible sites in Saudi Arabia are arabiaradio.org (an independent news agency which often has unflattering content on the kingdom), YouTube, Arab Times (which is also the most reported site in the Arab world currently, and the fourth most-reported overall), alsaha.com (an online forum with “provocative” information on Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries), and ProxEasy (a proxy tool).

For more information on Saudi Internet filtering, see the OpenNet Initiative’s 2007 report. Reporters Without Borders also provides information on censorship in the kingdom.

About the Author: Jillian York

Jillian C. York is the Project Coordinator for the OpenNet Initiative and the part of the Herdict team that you should contact if you have any questions about other-language instances of the site or international press. She created most of the textual content on the site, so if you spot something funny, let her know! She's also the face behind the @Herdict Twitter feed.