An increase of 133% over 2019

Telecommunications Regulatory: 3934 websites blocked in 2020

The categories identified by the authority include 19 categories for prohibited content.

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The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority in the country reported that 3,934 websites and Internet content were blocked in 2020, in cooperation with Etisalat and Du, compared to 1688 websites in 2019, an increase of 133%.

The categories of prohibited content identified by the authority include 19 categories of prohibited content, and the blocked sites during the year 2020 included sites that fell under the 16 categories of the categories of prohibited content, while the list was free of blocking any sites that fall into three other categories.

In a report on prohibited content during the year 2020, the authority stated that the number of fraud, fraud, and phishing sites that were blocked during the past year reached 534 sites, representing 13.6% of the total banned sites, thus ranking second, compared to 436 sites in 2019, an increase of its percentage. 22.5%.

Sites that are contrary to morality or public morals topped the list of blocked sites with a total of 2519 sites, which constitute 64% of the total blocked sites, and sites that help to bypass the blocking system and access the blocked content came in third place in the list of blocked sites, with a total of 322 sites, representing 8.2% of the total sites The blocked sites, followed by the fourth, the sites that promote narcotic drugs, with 256 sites, representing 6.5% of the total blocked sites.

The sites for violating privacy came next with 98 sites at a rate of 2.5%, then sites for violating intellectual property rights with a total of 82 sites with a rate of 2.1% of the blocked sites, then promoting activities in violation of the law with 28 sites at a rate of 0.7%, and then sites that target violations of public order with 27 sites. By 0.69%.

The sites that incite discrimination, racism and contempt of religion came in 22 sites, at a rate of 0.6%, followed by sites that provide illicit communication services with 21 sites by 0.5%, then sites for medical practices and drugs in violation of the law, with four sites by 0.1%, then came the sites that Incite against terrorism, virus and malware sites, with three sites each, by 0.08%.

The sites that are blocked by order of the judicial authorities or according to the law came with two sites at a rate of 0.05%, then sites that support business and criminal skills with one site at a rate of 0.03%.

The list of websites and online content for the year 2020 did not block any sites that fall under the promotion or trade in prohibited goods and services, the top-level banned domains, insults, slander and defamation.

The authority pointed out that it follows a specific policy regarding access to the Internet, which includes an approved list of categories of prohibited content.

This policy is applied by both Etisalat and du licensees, whereby access to sites and pages containing materials that fall into these prohibited categories is prohibited by using filtering systems to automatically classify such sites, and blocking measures are taken.

In this regard, she explained that "Etisalat" and "Du" provide Internet users with specific platforms to report any content that may be considered prohibited.

She noted that in order to consider the blocking request by internet service providers, the reported content should fall within one of the prohibited content categories.

Blocked content

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority required subscribers to inform Internet service providers about the prohibited content, explaining that if the site is dedicated to social communication, it is highly recommended to use the reporting mechanism available from the site itself, in most cases, as more information is provided on the “help” page or "Support" for the site.

- The number of fraud, phishing and phishing sites that were blocked during 2020 reached 534 sites.

Access to sites and pages that contain material falling under the prohibited categories is prohibited by using filtering systems.

64%

The share of sites contrary to morality or public morals, out of the total list of blocked sites, 2519 sites.

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