The Eid Al Fitr weekend of some UAE netizens was marred by inconveniences because Skype service was down in the country.
Social media users in the UAE expressed concern that the instant messaging app is blocked in the country again after several attempts to connect with their families abroad through Skype over the weekend failed.
Skype owner Microsoft recently said the company is aware of users losing Skype connection.
“[We] are continuing to monitor and we will post an update when the issue is fully resolved,” according to Microsoft’s statement last Tuesday, Gulf News reports.
Twitter user @Inonym0us said they have been struggling to call their relatives via Skype for the past two days.
In a reply to user @sarutweets on Friday, Skype said: “Unfortunately, Skype is banned in the UAE.”
Skype attached a statement following a similar incident in 2015.
“It has been brought to our attention that our website and services have been blocked by both of the ISPs in the UAE. That means you won’t be able to use Skype [in the country],” the statement reads. “Unfortunately, there is very little Skype can do about this situation. The best course of action would be for you to speak to your ISP and ask why they are blocking Skype.”
Du, one of the ISPs in the country, said “all VoIP applications [such as Skype] are under the regulation of the [Telecommunications Regulatory Authority].”
CyberTeam, a hacking group composed of supposed distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) attackers, claimed responsibility for the Skype downtime in the UAE.
“Skype down by CyberTeam,” the group tweeted on June 20.
Photo Credit: Flickr, Courtesy of Greg Balzar
