Facebook Messenger blocked in Saudi Arabia

In a bid to protect the revenues of traditional telecom companies, Saudi Arabia has now blocked social networking giant Facebook's Messenger service.

Internet calling over WhatsApp and Viber were already blocked in Saudi Arabia but similar apps including Tango and Line are still available in the country.

Although the authorities claimed that the service has been blocked since it violated regulations, the independent reports.

"The service had been banned because it failed to comply with regulations," an official told local news services.