Saudi Body Studying Regulating YouTube Production

A top Saudi official says the kingdom is studying ways to regulate locally-produced YouTube content, including the possibility of requiring government-issued licenses for some users.

Riyadh Najm, the president of The General Authority for Audiovisual Media, says his agency is still trying to figure out which type of YouTube content producers would be affected and how the agency would apply new regulations.

Several monetized YouTube accounts already have licenses as production houses from the Ministry of Culture and Information.

Speaking to The Associated Press Sunday, Najm says the aim of studying new regulations is to find ways to better manage the explosion of YouTube content coming out of the kingdom and ensure users respect the country's conservative norms.

YouTube's parent company, Google, said it had no comment on the matter.

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