Saudi Arabia Blocks Facebook For Hours: According to reports, Saudi Arabia yesterday blocked social networking site Facebook because it does not conform with the conservative values of the kingdom. But the Saudi officials quickly restored the access to Facebook. Saudi Arabia has around 27 million Facebook users.

      It may be recalled that Pakistan and Bangladesh had also banned Facebook once but unlike Saudi Arabia these countries restricted access to the site anywhere from a few days to a week.

      Saudi government did not reveal that what parts of Facebook's content were not in accordance with the values of the country. When Pakistan and Bangladesh blocked the site it was done as a reaction to user uproar over a user-proposed, "Everybody draw Mohammed Day" event. It is to be noted that images of Prophet Muhammed are considered blasphemous by Muslims.

      Saudi officials are yet to confirm that why the ban was lifted so shortly. Facebook also has not said anything on the matter so far. “Many visitors tried to access the site but it was giving them the following phrase ‘sorry, the required page is not available,” said Emirates 247.com. “Many visitors who are registered in Facebook could not access their account after the blockage, which started on Friday night without a prior warning,” it added.

      A spokesman at the kingdom’s Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) said that the social networking site was banned as it had 'crossed a line', which was not acceptable to the kingdom. The short ban means that Facebook would have to remain cautious in future and not encourage any controversial activity on its site.

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