Social Media Laws in the UAE: What You May and May Not Post, and the Penalties

Each text does a different job. The table shows which one answers which question, and when it took effect.

The table summarises the main offences in Federal Decree-Law No. 34 of 2021 on Countering Rumours and Cybercrimes; the sections that follow add the Penal Code equivalents and the exceptions. The Decree-Law contains other offences that are outside the scope of this guide.

Article 43 treats an offence against a public official or a person entrusted with a public service, during or because of their work, as aggravated, and Article 60 treats any offence under the Decree-Law committed during or because of the performance of the offender's job as aggravated too.

The Penal Code covers statements made through any means of publicity, which its Article 10 defines to include writings and pictures circulated without discrimination by any means. Article 425 punishes attributing to someone an incident that would expose them to punishment or to public hatred or contempt, with incarceration not exceeding 2 years or a fine not exceeding AED 20,000. Article 426 punishes insult that attributes no particular incident, with incarceration not exceeding one year or a fine not exceeding AED 20,000, rising to incarceration not exceeding 2 years and/or a fine of AED 20,000 to AED 50,000 where the target is a public servant in connection with their service, or family honour or an illegal purpose is involved. Article 427 covers insults by telephone or face to face in front of others, with incarceration not exceeding 6 months or a fine not exceeding AED 5,000, and insults made with no one else present or in a letter sent by any means, with a fine not exceeding AED 5,000. The official English text calls Article 425 (qadhf) libel and Article 426 (sabb) slander, the reverse of everyday English usage, so read the article numbers rather than the labels.

Truth is not a general defence. Article 428 allows proof of an allegation only where it was made against a public servant or a person entrusted with a public service and concerns their job, and not once five years have passed; the guide to whether truth is a defence to defamation in the UAE explains the consequences. The other defences are narrow too: Article 429 covers what litigants say in their defence before courts or investigating authorities, and Article 430 covers good-faith reports to the judicial or administrative authorities.

A criminal case for insult and slander of people needs the victim's complaint under Article 11 of the Criminal Procedures Law, and the complaint is not admitted after three months from when the victim learns of the crime and of who committed it. It is not settled whether the complaint rule and that limit also govern the online offence in Article 43, so anyone affected should take advice within three months of learning of the post and who made it. The full penalty table is in the guide to defamation in UAE law.

The acts Article 44 lists include taking photos of other people in any public or private place, and preparing, transferring, disclosing, copying or keeping electronic photos; publishing news, photos, scenes, comments, data or information about a person, even if true and genuine, with the intention of harming them; photographing or publishing images of injured or dead people or accident victims without consent; and tracking or disclosing someone's location data. Its final paragraph sets a higher minimum, at least one year, for modifying or processing a record, photo or scene to defame or insult someone, which is the provision that reaches morphed and manipulated images.

Article 431 of the Penal Code adds offences for recording private conversations or photographing a person in a private place without consent, and for publishing news, photos or comments about the secrets of someone's private or family life even if they are true. Devices are confiscated and recordings erased.

In practice, ask before you photograph or post anyone identifiable, including in public places and in the background of your own photos. Do not film or share accident scenes or injured people. Do not reveal where someone is without their agreement. Treat screenshots of other people's messages and personal details with the same care.

Article 52 also covers reports contrary to official announcements, and posts that would incite public opinion or disturb public peace. The penalty rises to at least two years and not less than AED 200,000 where the post incites public opinion against State authorities, or is made during epidemics, crises, emergencies or disasters. It is aimed at harm to the public rather than at private reputation; a dispute between two people falls under the insult and privacy provisions instead. Before forwarding a claim about an emergency, check it against official announcements.

Article 42 covers threats made through a network to force someone to act or to refrain from acting, and treats a threat to commit a crime or dishonourable acts, made with a demand, far more severely; the table above gives both penalties. If you are the one being threatened, the police come first: see the guide to online blackmail in the UAE.

Article 11 covers fake accounts: creating one and attributing it falsely to any natural or legal person is an offence, and Article 17 separately punishes running an account with intent to commit or facilitate a crime. If an account is pretending to be you, the steps are in the guide to a fake Instagram account in your name.

The Media Law applies to all persons, media establishments, media outlets and media free zones that practise media activities within the State (Article 2). Under Article 12(1), the competent authority licenses electronic and digital media activities that provide promotion and advertising on social media, for or without compensation. Because the permit provision for individuals also covers content provided for or without compensation, being unpaid does not by itself take a promotional post outside it.

The regulator changed on 1 January 2026. Federal Decree-Law No. 11 of 2025 set up the National Media Authority to replace the UAE Media Council, the National Media Office and the Emirates News Agency in all their competences, including those under the Media Law. Its Article 16 repeals the laws that created the National Media Office and the Media Council but keeps their resolutions and regulations in force until they are superseded.

The Authority's service is titled Permit for an Individual to Provide Advertising or Media Content on Social Media and Other Digital Platforms, and its page says the permit allows individuals to publish advertising and media content through their social media accounts. It is free of charge for the first three years and AED 1,000 after three years. The documents listed are a digital ID, a passport, a photo and a commercial licence. A separate Visitor Advertiser Permit exists for individuals entering the UAE on a visit visa.

Three points could not be confirmed from the Authority's own pages as read in October 2026, so this guide does not state them: the date from which the permit is enforced, whether a company advertising on its own corporate account needs one, and the penalties for advertising without a permit. News reports and law-firm notes give answers, but the official pages read for this guide do not. Check the Authority's current guidance, or take advice, before relying on any date or figure.

Article 20(2) of the Media Law requires every advertiser to include in all advertising material something that explicitly and clearly indicates that it is advertising. Cabinet Resolution No. 68 of 2024, the Executive Regulation of the Media Law, in force since 31 October 2024, adds the content rules in Article 33. Advertisements must be clearly identified, distinct and separate from editorial and media content (Article 33(6)). They must not contain incorrect or misleading claims, exaggerations, assertions of exclusivity, disparagement of competitors, or anything that may be construed as fraudulent or deceptive (Article 33(2)), and they must be factual and not exaggerated (Article 33(4)). An advertiser who endorses a product or service must clearly disclose any financial return received because of a commercial relationship (Article 33(7)).

Article 33 binds individuals, entities and media institutions, including those operating within media free zones. Under Article 33(10), advertisements for real estate, medical and health services, securities and financial services, education and food need approval from the relevant authority in advance, as do others the regulator specifies.

In practice, label every post that advertises something in plain words your audience will understand, keep claims to what you can show, do not disparage competitors, and check whether your sector needs approval before the post goes out. RepuLex holds its own UAE pages to the same standard, which is why they make no superlative claims.

A reply from a company account that insults a customer, or reveals their booking details or other personal information, can fall under Articles 43 and 44 of the Cybercrime Decree-Law, and Article 60 treats an offence committed during or because of the performance of one's job as aggravated. On the civil side, the new 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.

As reported by Gulf News in a report last updated on 28 December 2025, the Al Ain Court for Civil, Commercial and Administrative Claims awarded AED 100,000, against AED 200,000 claimed, against a business and its employees over a Snapchat video, and ordered an apology and a clear denial on the same account, after a criminal court had fined three defendants AED 10,000 each. It is a news report, not a precedent, but it shows a civil award following a criminal conviction and falling well below the amount claimed.

A short written policy for anyone who posts on the company's accounts helps: who approves posts, what never goes out (customer details, photos of people without consent, remarks about competitors), how complaints are answered in public, and who is called when a post goes wrong. When a post about the business spreads fast, see how RepuLex approaches online crisis management in Dubai.

Start with the platform. The main platforms have reporting routes for harassment, impersonation, private information and intimate images, and a platform's own decision can take a post down for everyone, not only for users in the UAE.

For an offence, the channels are the Dubai Police e-crime service, Abu Dhabi Police's Aman service, the Ministry of Interior eCrimes platform, the nearest police station and, in an emergency, 999. The Federal Public Prosecution's My Safe Society app takes confidential reports of crimes or suspicious activity on social media that may disrupt national or social security or public order, or negatively affect public opinion. The guide on how to report cyber crime in the UAE sets out each channel.

The complaint itself is the victim's act, made in person or through a lawyer on the Roll of Practicing Lawyers (Article 6(2) of Federal Decree-Law No. 34 of 2022 on the legal profession); Article 10 of that law closes criminal proceedings to licensed non-national lawyers, and onshore courts sit in Arabic under Article 5(1) of the Civil Procedure Code. Under Article 68 of the Cybercrime Decree-Law, the accused may rely on an amicable settlement with the victim for offences including Articles 43 and 44 before the judgment becomes final, and a settlement can include taking the post down and an apology. A civil claim for compensation under Articles 246 and 254(1) of the Civil Transactions Law can follow; see the guide to UAE social media defamation compensation.

No private person can order a platform to remove anything. Removal and blocking orders come from the competent authorities, the Attorney General (Article 66(2)) or, on conviction, a court (Article 59), and under Article 53 anyone who keeps illegal content on a site or account past the period an order specifies faces a fine of AED 300,000 to AED 1,000,000. An access-blocking order disables access in the UAE only. Under the TDRA's Internet Access Management Regulatory Policy, users ask their internet service provider, not the TDRA, to block content.

RepuLex, an online reputation management agency based in New Delhi, works on the platform side: platform complaints and policy reports, Google's legal-removal and personal-information routes, a dated, hashed evidence record, a removal audit and monitoring. It does not file, complain or appear in the UAE; it works alongside your UAE lawyer. For the service across the Emirates, see online reputation management in the UAE.

Article 69 of the Cybercrime Decree-Law applies it to offences committed outside the UAE where, among other cases, the crime harms any UAE national or resident, or the offender is later found in the UAE and has not been extradited. A post written abroad about someone in the UAE is not automatically beyond its reach.

Visitors are not exempt from the Media Law, which applies to all persons that practise media activities within the State, and the National Media Authority runs a separate Visitor Advertiser Permit for individuals entering the UAE on a visit visa. The same care over photos, privacy and insult applies to a visitor's posts as to a resident's.

Some pages on this subject were written before the 2021 and 2025 reforms, so check any claim you read against the current texts.