I had heard that You Tube was censored in Saudi Arabia – along with Craigslist, MySpace and any web site from Israel.

I tested this myself, first hand on a PC and web connection in Saudi Arabia and am happy to say it is a misconception. YouTube, Craigslist, MySpace and sites from Israel enjoy the same free speech in Saudi Arabia as they do in the USA.

From what I understand, there is some censorship of certain sites in Saudi Arabia such as adult, nudity and porn sites and I would guess that certain violent or hate speech sites might be censored but I didnt investigate this.

There are many misconceptions about this region of the world and many news media reports that are incorrect.

Saudi Arabia, China and many other countries have different standards of what speech is allowed compared to the US. In this, the United States is somehwat unusual – its important to remmember that in the US we have many banned and censored sites as well such as hate speech and illegal pornography for example.

Saudi Arabia is undergoing an amazing transformation of thier society. Oil wealth has given the nation the capital to launch many major development projects such as the creation of new economic cities and huge infrastructure investment.

Internet usage in Saudi Arabia is high and the speed is very fast. The cities are modern and have excelent shops and restaurants.