JEDDAH: With an aim of preventing the youth from watching profane or sexually explicit video clips online, a group of Saudis have developed a “clean” alternative to YouTube called NaqaTube (Naqa being the Arabic word for “pure”).
With millions of youths logging into YouTube each day, the group launched NaqaTube, which is simply an amalgamation of “clean” clips from YouTube.
Abu Ibraheem, one of the moderators of the website who did not wish to reveal his real name, said that clips on NaqaTube are religiously safe and often edited prior to being uploaded.
He added that the website’s logo is “Participate With Us In a Clean Website.”
The site also censors clips that are against the government, individuals and scholars, or which mock people in general. Abu Ibraheem added that women’s images are totally forbidden, along with music.
“Our dream is to decline the number of visitors to YouTube. Our website has received from 5,000 to 6,000 visitors since its launch two months ago,” he added. Abu Ibraheem said the website includes a new feature in which visitors will be able to edit their own clips before they are uploaded. “Our plan in the future is to include other languages,” he added.
Much of the material on the site is religiously inclined and the site’s front page displays links and screenshots to over 10 channels mainly featuring scholars, preachers, children and other Islamic-related material.
Abu Ibraheem said some of the clips appear multiple times on the site and this is a problem the moderators hope to rectify soon. He added that clips that have music are edited and that the music removed is in line with Islamic teachings, something that Abu Ibraheem says has attracted positive feedback from visitors.
The site also hosts clips of scholars from the Arab world delivering lectures and Islamic discourse.
“We are promoting a moderate Islam, nothing extreme,” he added.