Around nine million Saudi Arabians are currently active daily snapchat users, an estimated 30% increase from 2017, making them the country with the highest number of snapchat users in the world, percentage wise.

Independent research and analytics business Ampere Analysis revealed that residents living in Saudi Arabian cities Riyadh and Jeddah on average, use the SnapChat camera 40 times a day while spending around 35 minutes a day checking random snaps, compared to the global average of 25 uses of the camera per day times a day.

Many stereotypes associated with the United States’ advanced technological qualities make people think that the United States would have the highest amount of Snapchat Users.

“Oh, the United States without a doubt” said Hannah Marie Hart (‘20) when asked about what country had the highest amount of snapchat users.

In reality, though Saudi Arabia has 46 million phones in their country compared to a population of 36 million, the majority of Snapchat users in Saudi Arabia use Snapchat to express their views on politics, grow businesses, talk about celebrities and share everyday things such as stories or what they have eaten for the day.

However, Snap Inc. has banned al Qatar-based news service Al Jazeera from its platform in Saudi Arabia because Saudi Arabian laws related to cyber crime and published material were broken.

“We make an effort to comply with local laws in the countries where we operate,” a spokeswoman from Snap Inc. said.

Al Jazeera replied by saying that Snapchat’s actions were worrying, alarming and unprecedented.

Snapchat continues to be the number one social media platform in Saudi Arabia, but it is still yet if this could have a major impact on the country.