# Internet connectivity disruption in Saudi Arabia

**Country:** 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia (SA)
**Date:** 2026-05-03
**Type:** Mixed
**Severity:** CRITICAL
**Status:** active

## Summary

IODA detected significant connectivity drop in Saudi Arabia. 8 critical alerts recorded. CenAlert confirms censorship activity.

## Metrics

- Confidence: 70%
- Measurements: 8
- Anomaly Rate: 59.7%

## Evidence

- **IODA** (alert): IODA detected critical level outage for Ar Riyad
  - Observed: 2026-05-03
  - Confidence: 77%
  - [IODA live national dashboard (not a per-event permalink)](https://ioda.inetintel.cc.gatech.edu/country/SA)
- **IODA** (alert): IODA detected critical level outage for Al Quassim
  - Observed: 2026-05-03
  - Confidence: 77%
  - [IODA live national dashboard (not a per-event permalink)](https://ioda.inetintel.cc.gatech.edu/country/SA)
- **IODA** (alert): IODA detected critical level outage for `Asir
  - Observed: 2026-05-03
  - Confidence: 77%
  - [IODA live national dashboard (not a per-event permalink)](https://ioda.inetintel.cc.gatech.edu/country/SA)
- **IODA** (alert): IODA detected critical level outage for Makkah
  - Observed: 2026-05-03
  - Confidence: 77%
  - [IODA live national dashboard (not a per-event permalink)](https://ioda.inetintel.cc.gatech.edu/country/SA)
- **IODA** (alert): IODA detected critical level outage for Tabuk
  - Observed: 2026-05-03
  - Confidence: 77%
  - [IODA live national dashboard (not a per-event permalink)](https://ioda.inetintel.cc.gatech.edu/country/SA)
- **IODA** (alert): IODA detected critical level outage for Al Madinah
  - Observed: 2026-05-03
  - Confidence: 77%
  - [IODA live national dashboard (not a per-event permalink)](https://ioda.inetintel.cc.gatech.edu/country/SA)
- **IODA** (alert): IODA detected critical level outage for Ash Sharqiyah
  - Observed: 2026-05-03
  - Confidence: 77%
  - [IODA live national dashboard (not a per-event permalink)](https://ioda.inetintel.cc.gatech.edu/country/SA)
- **IODA** (alert): IODA detected critical level outage for Al Bahah
  - Observed: 2026-05-03
  - Confidence: 77%
  - [IODA live national dashboard (not a per-event permalink)](https://ioda.inetintel.cc.gatech.edu/country/SA)
- **CENSOREDPLANET** (dns-probe): DNS blocking detected: 4/4 probes anomalous (100.0%) for bbc.com
  - Observed: 2026-05-03
  - Confidence: 90%
  - [CensoredPlanet raw-data portal (no per-measurement permalink)](https://data.censoredplanet.org)
- **CENSOREDPLANET** (dns-probe): DNS blocking detected: 4/4 probes anomalous (100.0%) for chat.openai.com
  - Observed: 2026-05-03
  - Confidence: 90%
  - [CensoredPlanet raw-data portal (no per-measurement permalink)](https://data.censoredplanet.org)
- **CENSOREDPLANET** (dns-probe): DNS blocking detected: 4/4 probes anomalous (100.0%) for chatgpt.com
  - Observed: 2026-05-03
  - Confidence: 90%
  - [CensoredPlanet raw-data portal (no per-measurement permalink)](https://data.censoredplanet.org)
- **CENSOREDPLANET** (dns-probe): DNS blocking detected: 4/4 probes anomalous (100.0%) for claude.ai
  - Observed: 2026-05-03
  - Confidence: 90%
  - [CensoredPlanet raw-data portal (no per-measurement permalink)](https://data.censoredplanet.org)
- **CENSOREDPLANET** (dns-probe): DNS blocking detected: 4/4 probes anomalous (100.0%) for facebook.com
  - Observed: 2026-05-03
  - Confidence: 90%
  - [CensoredPlanet raw-data portal (no per-measurement permalink)](https://data.censoredplanet.org)
- **CENSOREDPLANET** (dns-probe): DNS blocking detected: 4/4 probes anomalous (100.0%) for gemini.google.com
  - Observed: 2026-05-03
  - Confidence: 90%
  - [CensoredPlanet raw-data portal (no per-measurement permalink)](https://data.censoredplanet.org)
- **CENSOREDPLANET** (dns-probe): DNS blocking detected: 4/4 probes anomalous (100.0%) for getlantern.org
  - Observed: 2026-05-03
  - Confidence: 90%
  - [CensoredPlanet raw-data portal (no per-measurement permalink)](https://data.censoredplanet.org)
- **CENSOREDPLANET** (dns-probe): DNS blocking detected: 4/4 probes anomalous (100.0%) for google.com
  - Observed: 2026-05-03
  - Confidence: 90%
  - [CensoredPlanet raw-data portal (no per-measurement permalink)](https://data.censoredplanet.org)
- **CENSOREDPLANET** (dns-probe): DNS blocking detected: 5/5 probes anomalous (100.0%) for huggingface.co
  - Observed: 2026-05-03
  - Confidence: 90%
  - [CensoredPlanet raw-data portal (no per-measurement permalink)](https://data.censoredplanet.org)
- **CENSOREDPLANET** (dns-probe): DNS blocking detected: 4/4 probes anomalous (100.0%) for instagram.com
  - Observed: 2026-05-03
  - Confidence: 90%
  - [CensoredPlanet raw-data portal (no per-measurement permalink)](https://data.censoredplanet.org)
- **CENSOREDPLANET** (dns-probe): DNS blocking detected: 4/4 probes anomalous (100.0%) for medium.com
  - Observed: 2026-05-03
  - Confidence: 90%
  - [CensoredPlanet raw-data portal (no per-measurement permalink)](https://data.censoredplanet.org)
- **CENSOREDPLANET** (dns-probe): DNS blocking detected: 4/4 probes anomalous (100.0%) for nytimes.com
  - Observed: 2026-05-03
  - Confidence: 90%
  - [CensoredPlanet raw-data portal (no per-measurement permalink)](https://data.censoredplanet.org)
- **CENSOREDPLANET** (dns-probe): DNS blocking detected: 4/4 probes anomalous (100.0%) for openai.com
  - Observed: 2026-05-03
  - Confidence: 90%
  - [CensoredPlanet raw-data portal (no per-measurement permalink)](https://data.censoredplanet.org)
- **CENSOREDPLANET** (dns-probe): DNS blocking detected: 4/4 probes anomalous (100.0%) for protonvpn.com
  - Observed: 2026-05-03
  - Confidence: 90%
  - [CensoredPlanet raw-data portal (no per-measurement permalink)](https://data.censoredplanet.org)
- **CENSOREDPLANET** (dns-probe): DNS blocking detected: 4/4 probes anomalous (100.0%) for psiphon.ca
  - Observed: 2026-05-03
  - Confidence: 90%
  - [CensoredPlanet raw-data portal (no per-measurement permalink)](https://data.censoredplanet.org)
- **CENSOREDPLANET** (dns-probe): DNS blocking detected: 4/4 probes anomalous (100.0%) for reddit.com
  - Observed: 2026-05-03
  - Confidence: 90%
  - [CensoredPlanet raw-data portal (no per-measurement permalink)](https://data.censoredplanet.org)
- **CENSOREDPLANET** (dns-probe): DNS blocking detected: 4/4 probes anomalous (100.0%) for signal.org
  - Observed: 2026-05-03
  - Confidence: 90%
  - [CensoredPlanet raw-data portal (no per-measurement permalink)](https://data.censoredplanet.org)
- **CENSOREDPLANET** (dns-probe): DNS blocking detected: 4/4 probes anomalous (100.0%) for substack.com
  - Observed: 2026-05-03
  - Confidence: 90%
  - [CensoredPlanet raw-data portal (no per-measurement permalink)](https://data.censoredplanet.org)
- **CENSOREDPLANET** (dns-probe): DNS blocking detected: 4/4 probes anomalous (100.0%) for telegram.org
  - Observed: 2026-05-03
  - Confidence: 90%
  - [CensoredPlanet raw-data portal (no per-measurement permalink)](https://data.censoredplanet.org)
- **CENSOREDPLANET** (dns-probe): DNS blocking detected: 4/4 probes anomalous (100.0%) for theguardian.com
  - Observed: 2026-05-03
  - Confidence: 90%
  - [CensoredPlanet raw-data portal (no per-measurement permalink)](https://data.censoredplanet.org)
- **CENSOREDPLANET** (dns-probe): DNS blocking detected: 7/7 probes anomalous (100.0%) for tiktok.com
  - Observed: 2026-05-03
  - Confidence: 90%
  - [CensoredPlanet raw-data portal (no per-measurement permalink)](https://data.censoredplanet.org)
- **CENSOREDPLANET** (dns-probe): DNS blocking detected: 4/4 probes anomalous (100.0%) for tumblr.com
  - Observed: 2026-05-03
  - Confidence: 90%
  - [CensoredPlanet raw-data portal (no per-measurement permalink)](https://data.censoredplanet.org)
- **CENSOREDPLANET** (dns-probe): DNS blocking detected: 4/4 probes anomalous (100.0%) for twitter.com
  - Observed: 2026-05-03
  - Confidence: 90%
  - [CensoredPlanet raw-data portal (no per-measurement permalink)](https://data.censoredplanet.org)
- **CENSOREDPLANET** (dns-probe): DNS blocking detected: 4/4 probes anomalous (100.0%) for whatsapp.com
  - Observed: 2026-05-03
  - Confidence: 90%
  - [CensoredPlanet raw-data portal (no per-measurement permalink)](https://data.censoredplanet.org)
- **CENSOREDPLANET** (dns-probe): DNS blocking detected: 4/4 probes anomalous (100.0%) for youtube.com
  - Observed: 2026-05-03
  - Confidence: 90%
  - [CensoredPlanet raw-data portal (no per-measurement permalink)](https://data.censoredplanet.org)

## What we cannot say

- **Who caused it** — measurement data alone does not attribute the interference to any government, ISP, or other actor.
- **Intent** — anomalous or unreachable measurements indicate interference, not a stated motive or a deliberate-vs-incidental determination.
- **Sub-national scope** — measurement is aggregated at the country level; we cannot localize to a province, city, or network segment.

## Data Sources

ioda, censoredplanet

## Citation

Voidly Research. (2026). Internet connectivity disruption in Saudi Arabia [SA-2026-0054]. Retrieved from https://voidly.ai/incident/SA-2026-0054

---
*Report generated by Voidly Research on 2026-08-06*
*Data licensed under CC BY 4.0*
*Incident ID: SA-2026-0054*
*Permalink: https://voidly.ai/incident/SA-2026-0054*