Snapchat blocks content after requests by TRA

Material ‘that may not fit our society’ removed from site.

ABU DHABI // Social media site Snapchat has blocked content after some users complained to the telecoms regulator.

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority said it received a “positive response” from the Californian company and that some content was removed “that may not fit our societies”. Details of the content was not known.

The video posting app has grown rapidly since it was launched five years ago. More than 100 million users spend an average of 25 to 30 minutes a day on Snapchat, the company says.

Users film videos that are deleted 24 hours after being posted, so it is not known if the content was removed or if it had expired.

A Snapchat spokesman would not comment directly. “Our focus is on creating the best possible experience for Snapchatters around the world,” he said.

GCC residents are increasingly migrating towards applications such as Snapchat and away from Twitter and Facebook, making it one of “the most popular platforms in the high-bandwidth Gulf countries”, a study by Northwestern University suggests.

Snapchat was sued recently by a US teenager and his mother over objectionable content.

Its users in the UAE said they had not noticed any objectionable content and did not understand what the fuss was about.

“I’m an active Snapchat user. I don’t recall seeing anything offensive,” said Bilal Hasan, 27.

He suggested that one of Snapchat’s media partners might have published objectionable content through some of the app’s curated stories.

“If the problem was one of Snapchat’s media partners then I don’t think it’s fair to blame Snapchat,” said Mr Hasan.

“When a company posts something offensive on their Facebook page, people blame the company, not Facebook. It’s just a platform. The same applies to Snapchat, I think.”