Online Reputation Management in Abu Dhabi: Removal, Aman and the Courts

For organisations, the common starting points are a false accusation spread on social media, a fake page using the organisation's name or logo, and posts made by staff on official accounts. For individuals, they are insults, impersonation and private photos or details published without consent. Each can engage a federal offence that applies in Abu Dhabi as in the other emirates: Article 43 of Federal Decree-Law No. 34 of 2021 on Countering Rumours and Cybercrimes for online insult, Article 11 for a fake account attributed to a natural or legal person, and Article 44 for invasion of privacy, which can apply even to true information published to harm someone; see why truth is not a defence in the UAE.

Article 11 carries heavier penalties where a public body is impersonated. Creating a fake website, account or email and attributing it to a government entity carries imprisonment up to 5 years and a fine of AED 200,000 to AED 2,000,000, and using a fake account in a matter offensive to the person affected carries imprisonment of at least 2 years. A fake Instagram account in your name covers the platform reports and the evidence to keep.

A business can also be liable for what its staff post for it. The Civil Transactions Law makes a principal liable for harm resulting from a harmful act committed by a subordinate in the performance of their duty or because of it. Social media laws in the UAE covers what may be posted on official accounts, including the rules on labelling advertising, and AI reputation management in the UAE covers what AI assistants say about an organisation.

Some problems began outside the UAE. For Indian nationals in Abu Dhabi whose problem sits on an Indian news portal, review site or group chat, reputation management for Indians in the UAE explains the separate route RepuLex runs in India.

The Abu Dhabi Police homepage presents Aman as a service 'for a secure and stable society'. It shows the two numbers without saying how each is used, so if you are unsure, start with the website. The federal channels are open in Abu Dhabi too: the Ministry of Interior eCrimes platform, in the MOI UAE app or at moi.gov.ae, which refers reports to the Public Prosecution, and the Federal Public Prosecution's My Safe Society app, built for social media content that may disrupt national or social security, public order or public opinion.

Before reporting, capture the evidence: the full URL of each post or account, dated screenshots showing the account name and the content, and a note of when you found it and when you learned who was behind it. Report the content to the platform as well, because a police report does not by itself take anything down. How to report cyber crime in the UAE compares every channel.

A criminal case for insult and slander starts with a complaint by the victim, a representative or an attorney under a special power of attorney, filed with the Public Prosecution or a judicial police officer (Articles 11 and 12 of the Criminal Procedures Law, Federal Decree-Law No. 38 of 2022), and is then heard in the onshore criminal courts. The complaint is not admitted after three months from when the victim becomes aware of the crime and its perpetrator, so take advice within three months of learning of the post and who made it. We have not found a primary text settling whether that limit also governs the online offence in Article 43, so treat it as the deadline.

Arabic is the official language of the courts (Article 5(1) of the Civil Procedure Code, Federal Decree-Law No. 42 of 2022), and non-Arabic speakers are heard through a sworn interpreter. The courts and the Public Prosecution admit a lawyer's representation only if the lawyer is recorded in the Roll of Practicing Lawyers (Article 6(2) of Federal Decree-Law No. 34 of 2022 Regulating the Legal Profession and Legal Consultation Profession), and a victim may still lodge a complaint personally. The offences and their penalties are set out in defamation in UAE law, and the steps in how to file a defamation case in Dubai, whose complaint rules are federal and apply in Abu Dhabi too.

For a reputation matter, the written agreement is what counts. A person defamed by a stranger has no agreement with the poster, and without one a party with no connection to ADGM has no route into the ADGM Courts. Where a contract between the two sides contains a written ADGM clause, ask your lawyer whether it reaches the dispute.

The ADGM Courts' published guide describes civil and commercial jurisdiction and does not address criminal matters. A criminal complaint in Abu Dhabi goes to the police or the Public Prosecution in any case, under Article 12 of the Criminal Procedures Law. For personal data, the federal Personal Data Protection Law does not cover companies and establishments in free zones that have their own legislation on personal data protection, which includes ADGM (Article 2(2) of Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021).

As reported by Gulf Today, the Al Ain Court of First Instance awarded a company AED 20,000, against AED 60,000 claimed, over a comment on a Google website. As reported by Gulf News, the Al Ain Court for Civil, Commercial and Administrative Claims awarded AED 100,000, against AED 200,000 claimed, over a Snapchat video, and in a separate case AED 70,000, against AED 200,000 claimed, over social media comments about a shop. Also as reported by Gulf News, the Abu Dhabi Court for Family, Civil and Administrative Cases awarded AED 20,000, against AED 51,000 claimed, over abusive and defamatory posts. Each followed a criminal conviction.

These are news reports, not citable precedent, and all four were reported before the new Civil Transactions Law came into force on 1 June 2026. They show a pattern rather than a tariff: the civil claim followed the criminal case, and the court awarded well below the amount claimed. In the Snapchat case the court also ordered an apology and a clear denial of the allegations via the same Snapchat account, the kind of order Article 256(2) of the new law allows. Defamation compensation in the UAE sets out the claim in full, and negative Google reviews and UAE law looks at the Google review case from both sides.

The table sets out each body, its role in a reputation matter and who approaches it. RepuLex deals with the platforms and Google; the rest are for you or your UAE lawyer. In Dubai the bodies differ: online reputation management in Dubai covers the Dubai Courts and the DIFC Courts.

RepuLex works on published fixed fees per URL, paid in advance and refunded in full for any URL not removed within its agreed timeline, provided the documents and authority requested for that URL are supplied. It offers a non-disclosure agreement before any case discussion. The sequence below is the usual one. It changes where a threat or a child is involved, because then the police come first.

Under Article 15, you may request erasure where the data is no longer necessary, where you withdraw consent, where you object and there are no legitimate reasons to continue, or where the processing breaks the law. Erasure cannot be required where it affects investigation procedures or the claiming and defending of rights, among other exceptions. The law does not cover government data and government entities, data held by security and judicial authorities, or health and banking or credit data that have their own legislation (Article 2(2)). A data subject may complain to the UAE Data Office (Article 24).

No Executive Regulations for the law had been published as of 19 October 2026, and we found no UAE statute or published judgment giving a right to have a search engine de-list a result. The right to be forgotten in the UAE sets out what can be asked of a website, of Google and of an organisation that holds your data.

The same tests apply to every provider, RepuLex included; the page on online reputation management in the UAE sets them out with the law behind each. Three carry extra weight in the capital.

Cyberextortion is an offence under Article 42 of the Cybercrime Decree-Law: imprisonment of not more than 2 years and/or a fine of AED 250,000 to AED 500,000, and temporary imprisonment of not more than 10 years where the threat is to commit a crime or dishonourable acts, with an explicit or implicit demand. Do not pay, stop replying and keep every message.

RepuLex does not take anything involving a child as reputation work. For extortion, its part is removing anything already published, after or alongside the police report, never instead of it. Online blackmail in the UAE sets out the steps in order.