Pornography in Saudi Arabia

 

One of the most frequently asked questions i get on my webpages about Saudi Arabia is about Pornography in Saudi Arabia; many people are afraid about what constitutes porn in Saudi and how deep a search will be made of items such as laptops, flash drives and even mobile phones.

 

What is considered Porn in Saudi Arabia

 

Porn in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Women Dressed for the Beach enjoying the sun.

Saudi Arabia is a very conservative society in which women are covered from head to toe when in public as such what we in the rest of the world may consider a perfectly harmless picture will be considered porn in KSA. This is a society in which you will see your cereal box in the supermarket covered over with a sticker or a thick black marker pen to obscure the naked arms and legs of the model advertising the slimming effects of said cereal. Any picture in which more than a woman’s head, feet and hands are visible will be considered just too much!

So if you bring a harmless magazine into the country you may find it confiscated due to it containing images of women showing just too much cleavage or leg. It is unlikely that you will get in any trouble over this offense if is an “honest” mistake, however if you bring a “lads mag” or real porn then you could find yourself on the next plane home (or worse!)

 

Will they check my laptop in Saudi Arabia?

 

Pornography in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Pornography

I have been asked many times if people will have their laptops, disk drives and flash drives inspected when they enter Saudi Arabia. While it has never happened to me or anyone I have ever known it is always a possibility. There are many rumors circulating about this being done, however I have never yet met anyone who can confirm this ever happening. My personal opinion is that it would just take them far too long and be very ineffective unless they started to use IT experts to do their checks for them and quite frankly the Saudis are just too darn lazy to do it! The other side to this would be that many people’s innocent snaps would be considered risque in Saudi and most visitors if they had their laptops checked would probably contravene something!

Therefore I would not be overly concerned about pictures on my laptop, flash-drives or external disc drives unless I was actually bringing in real porn! (In which case compressed files hidden in unusual directories would prevent a simple inspection finding them!)

 

Will I have my Mobile Phone pictures Checked?

 

Many people have pictures that would be considered porn in Saudi Arabia on their mobile phones, whilst I have never had my phone checked while working in Saudi Arabia I have met several people who have had theirs checked by mutawa (religious police) in the streets of Saudi Arabia. However in all of these cases the phones belonged to women from the Philippines, India or Indonesia and they were harassed by the Mutawa for every reason they could think of, a few tearfully confided as to having been sexually abused by these so called religious police after being threatened with arrest as being prostitutes for whatever charges they could make up! Women in Saudi Arabia are not treated very well, especially expat women who will be seen as an easy target by many Saudi Bullies.

 

Porn on the internet in Saudi  Arabia

 

You will find that internet access in Saudi Arabia is heavily censored, you will find it almost impossible to access a porn website from Saudi Arabia. You will also find it difficult to use proxy servers and the like to fool the system into thinking you are not in KSA, it is best to have them set up for your laptop before you get into the kingdom if you want to use them.

Along with porn in KSA you will find many other sites are impossible to access such as dating sites and even some social networks and news sites.

 

Porn on the Television in Saudi Arabia

 

You will find that films from the west that are aired on Saudi television and even on Saudi Airlines flights are heavily censored. You will see cleavage that is given the same treatment as witnesses faces are given in programs aired in the west so that you cannot see it clearly. Words and scenes that are unacceptable will also be cut even if it leaves the film being totally un-followable, things like gay kisses, touching areas that should not be touched etc will all be cut!

Due to how easy it is to access the feed from a TV satellite you can watch many channels and this includes several porn channels that the government is unable to block that are meant for neighboring countries.

You will also find that if you are able to connect your satellite decoder to the internet you can watch many of these channels for free despite them being totally against the law in Saudi Arabia.

 

Don’t get caught with Porn in Saudi Arabia

 

Films, pictures, magazines, computer files or any other media that may be considered pornography or immoral in Saudi Arabia should be avoided if you possibly can, certainly never get caught passing anything that could be considered porn to another person or you will certainly be in big trouble.

Remember that the Saudi definition of pornography and what is immoral is much tighter than we would expect, a flash of cleavage or thigh, or a suggestion of homosexuality is enough for something to be totally unacceptable and enough to get you in trouble.

15 comments for “Pornography in Saudi Arabia

  1. August 15, 2012 at 3:38 am

    Since Saudia is a Islamic state, i do hope that all citzens are royal to their government and that there is no criminal offences and that the police and prisons have little work to do, is it?

    • admin
      August 16, 2012 at 10:57 pm

      People are People whatever country they are from and whatever religion they follow. Saudi has its fair share of good and bad people just like every other country I have been to.

      • namke
        September 20, 2012 at 4:12 pm

        no saudi people are religious extremists.
        beside Saudi doesn’t even follow the true form of Islam

    • Rakan01
      August 25, 2014 at 2:26 pm

      I don’t support to live in saudi they have racism throw all people even between each other. My father lived in Saudi arabia Close Since 1948 when we kicked out from palestin,e and we didn’t get a permit resident until know, and know i get the Green Card without see U.S and they try to close over 8000 investment my father he own his investment and he can’t sell it because he is not saudi even he can’t make any saudi guy sell it , my father have 3 choices .
      1: sell every thing alone , ( with this choice the tools and metals it will not cost any thing )
      2: remove your investment and your factory to another country .
      3: Wait on a witting list to get a land in a factories land and to hold 1,500,000 S.R and get a saudi employes . ( saudi employes they don’t work and the ( minimum salary S.R 5,000 that a high salary for a employes without a college degree ) .

      Don’t forget the bad weather in summer it’s became 48* and 50* it’s very hot . But you can save you money on easy way . Don’t forget they get scary when they know that your from EUROP OR North America if you get a big problem call your embessy .

      For who ask about things on laptop no they don’t search it .

      (( If you want to work there be sure that your money go out Abroad of saudi arabia and live on compound and get a high Salary )),,(( if you live on compound you will live close same as US and you’ll not see saudis people a lot .

      The best place to work called Armco for engineering with american nationality they get over (S.R 60.000 , close to $15.000 ).

      Good luck .

  2. Thomas Smythe
    January 9, 2013 at 3:05 am

    For those concerned about porn on laptops, a simple solution would be to use a tool like Google Drive or one of the many online storage websites to upload your suspect files before you travel to KSA. Then, once inside the kingdom you can download them again. This is assuming that sites like Google Drive (or simple files within Gmail) aren’t blocked.

    • admin
      January 25, 2013 at 8:04 pm

      Hi Thomas

      Should be a good solution!

  3. danilo de vera
    April 8, 2013 at 9:13 pm

    i left saudi arabia last november 2012 having exit reentry visa and have a mobile unit credit to one of ksa outstanding mobile network the stc,costing 1000 saudi riyal.my question is,it is possible that i can work again in ksa and how long i will wait.thanks

  4. ummmmeee
    May 29, 2014 at 9:38 pm

    what if you just stop watching these degrading things!porn is disgusting and those willing to watch it are disgusting too..This is not bringing you any good and reduces you to a mere animal.
    imagine the woman being shown on the video being your own mother,sister,daughter…
    Saudi can seem strict from our western way of thinking but banning ppl from porn,alcohol ect is to avoid great evil.
    saudi are being clear about what u can and cant do in their land if ppl want to go n live in saudi arabia submit to their laws or go to a different country.cuz saudi is not gonna change their ways
    Saudi Arabia is not a land of freedom and doesnt claim to be so

  5. Lazer
    July 3, 2014 at 1:04 am

    What about viewing images of American women as an American living in Saudi Arabia?

    I know you mentioned that many sites are blocked, but some mobile apps, such as instagram, can still be viewed. If you sent something directly back and forth, could that be traced on mobile apps?

  6. sami
    July 19, 2014 at 5:18 am

    Hi,

    I don’t know if this is an old blog but I wanted to say something about porn in KSA.

    I am Saudi, and I find your website very impressive, most of the things you discussed here are very accurate.

    However, I disagree with you on the porn thing. I have never seen or even heard anyone got his/her computer or flash drive checked for porn, or anything at all.

    porn magazine? yes, they’ll mostly check on that but they’ll never check your computer.

    It is true that almost all porn websites are banned in saudi arabia but you can easily get to them using any proxy server (you can use free software like hot spot shield or expat shield). In fact that’s what all single saudis do (if you know what mean =)

    You’ll probably not read this post, I just wanted to say my opinion for anyone who might visit your website.

    Thanks, and pardon my English =)

  7. Mohed Fa
    August 18, 2014 at 7:12 am

    you can use Tor browser

  8. camilla
    November 20, 2014 at 3:49 am

    Hi,
    is it save to have a sex call via skype or any other different webcam media with my boyfriend while he is in Saudi Arabia?

  9. muhamad asad
    December 9, 2014 at 1:03 am

    i am regularly watching porn in saudi and lot of saudi youth girl and boy watch them c’mon it is not like a ban

    porn is hottest and many saudi homes have porn dvd it is normal in here and sex is widely distributed poor girls from africa egypt ethipia and even from saudi are prostitutes i have sex and f*** with them many times .

    it is normal here now it is opening up and even i have sex with saudi girl whose father is inspector in chief saudi police

    but yes not openly like in west we do everything and our culture a bit opening up slowly steadily:)

  10. Aj
    May 25, 2015 at 9:06 am

    Hi can i ask you last night i arrest with mutawa bec of my hair and tattoo but mutawa also get my phone and check and saw to my phone sexy and nude phto what happen to me? I am filipino they have chance to deport me?

  11. dave prentice
    June 1, 2015 at 11:15 pm

    Just download a VPN on your computer before you go into Saudi – Express VPN for example. It bypasses all censorship – although I have not been in Saudi, it worked for me in the UAE every time as the computer links directly to servers in say the UK, EU or US where MI5 and the NSA can monitor your computer use instead! So I could get BBC or specialist sites for the one handed if needed be.

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