Reuters said on Monday that a second telecom company in Saudi Arabia will block SMS messages intended as votes for a TV show:

Saudi religious scholars last May condemned the hugely popular talent show aired by Lebanese channel LBC as a crime against Islam when a young Saudi returned to a hero’s welcome after winning in the Lebanese capital Beirut.

The Saudi Telecommunications Co. (STC) made an announcement last January that it would block the messages, based on a religious decision made the prior year. The only other cell company in the country, a UAE-based consortium called Mobily (Etihad Etisalat), is finally following suit:

“We will definitely lose money, but how much, I don’t know,” [Mobily spokesman] Alghodaini said about the decision. “If we don’t (stop messaging) it would backfire on us and affect our brand.”

So, the carriers have been prohibited from profits related to the show, which does not stop the show or other forms of voting. Moreover, this certainly raises an interesting dilemma since the content of the message itself is not the problem but rather the intent of the sender to participate in a form of communication deemed objectionable to the religious leaders. And that kind of standard makes violations hard to find, let alone block.