Censorship plan draws criticism

The Saudi Audiovisual Commission has recently announced that they will be monitoring and censoring visual content on YouTube. The commission will require subscribers to obtain a permit that clarifies certain regulations and conditions.
Many Saudi youth have expressed their discontent and rejection of the idea, arguing that it will limit the content that is available for them on the Website.
Dr. Riyadh Najm, chairman of the Saudi Audiovisual commission, explained in a phone interview that was aired in YaHala show on Rotana Khalijiah that the aim of the permit is to find suitable opportunities for talented Saudi youth who produce their own shows on social media and to educate them about the rules and regulations that are suitable for the Saudi society. “Of course there are certain companies who are using the social media site, but they are not our priority for the time being, we are focusing on enhancing and improving the regulars and individual users and will begin monitoring their content,” he said. “The commission does not care bout subscribers; our concern is about content and that’s the only thing we want to monitor, to ensure it abides by our cultural and religious rules,” he added.
“I am sometimes shocked that some music videos are blocked and we are denied access to them, even though there is no reason for them to be blocked,” said twitter subscriber Sarah Kunaji. “I wish they would concede to the fact that most Internet users are educated people who know right from wrong, so there is no need for over protection,” she added.
The decision to censor content will limit the freedom of Saudi YouTubers, according to Hassan Mesaed, another twitter subscriber. “We use social media to share our opinions about different subject including social and political ones.
“Print media has limited freedom of speech and we can never know the whole truth from these traditional outlets,” he said, adding, “This will definitely suffocate us because we got a taste of how to speak and hear other people through the YouTube shows without worrying about facing censorship.”
Meanwhile, Ahmed Al-Zahrani, YouTube subscriber, said, “Things are not clear to YouTube subscribers. The statement from the chairman is not clear to many of us, as we still need to know who will need the permit. Is the permit for new subscribers or all Saudi subscribers? How are they going to monitor this? What are the new rules that we need to follow?” he wondered.