7 ms·

> publishing information deemed harmful to state interests Is the charge, which I think kind of speaks for itself. Full on: "You embarrassed us, straight to ja

> publishing information deemed harmful to state interests Is the charge, which I think kind of speaks for itself. Full on: "You embarrassed us, straight to jail." In most of the world such photos would be deemed of public interest and shared by the media then we'd reflect on if our routing is safe/correct and make proportional changes for safety. Not a big deal, nobody is fired, life moves on. I feel like actions like this are going to hurt the UAE themselves, because how can you improve if there is no dialog? No information to even start a dialog? A lot of hard conversations are NOT going to be had because I guess it is a state secret?

throwanem 6mo ago
[flagged]
- Someone1234 6mo ago
  I'm not American. America didn't even exist when most of the core social concepts I referenced were popularized, and it certainly wasn't in the 20th century. Also, very self-telling, that I said "UAE should do better for UAE's own future sake" to which you responded: "you want to take away UAE's sovereignty!" Hmm, very odd, that.
  - throwanem 6mo ago
    [flagged]
    - soopypoos 6mo ago
      Great, now my monocle is wet
      - throwanem 6mo ago
        Sonra kurutun.
miohtama 6mo ago
It's public interest of Dubainers of not to expose any problems, as the premise of the emirate is built on loose money, loose rules and high life and this kind of money is first to flee in the case of hiccups.
- brikym 6mo ago
  Problems such as 'Dubai porta-potty'
netdur 6mo ago
there are two sides, such as how photos can stress citizens and act as propaganda, making them harmful to state interests, ultimately it is their country and their rules, not yours, regardless of how much you disagree with it you are also missing the elephant in the room, whatsapp's claim of end-to-end encryption is a lie
- adjejmxbdjdn 6mo ago
  Group chats are openly not E2E encrypted. Even personal chats are publicly not E2E encrypted. There are other insidious ways you can publicly and openly end E2E encryption (I think backups might do that). Essentially, while WhatsApp may not be lying their default 1 to 1 chats are E2E encrypted, it makes sense to use it as if it weren’t because it’s so easy to disable it even with their publicly disclosed information.
  - Tepix 6mo ago
    Wrong. Both WhatsApp and Signal group chats are E2EE. Telegram group chats are not. Even 1on1 chats aren‘t E2EE on Telegram by default. Also, reporting is an issue: If a member of the group "Reports" a message to WhatsApp, a copy of the recent messages in that chat is decrypted and sent to WhatsApp for review to check for terms-of-service violations.
- chasil 6mo ago
  The actual text from the article implies that OS exploits compromised the device. "The UAE government owns majority holdings in telecom companies Etisalat and Du. This gives security services the power to observe all communications on their networks. "The Arab state has also used the Israeli-developed software Pegasus which allows agents to listen into private calls and read messages, even if they are shared on encrypted apps like WhatsApp,. "The spyware can infect a device even without the user activating a link - such as via a WhatsApp call, even if it isn't answered. "Once inside, it can access all WhatsApp messages, logos and contacts."
  - ufmace 6mo ago
tremon 6mo ago
how can you improve if there is no dialog The UAE doesn't have a self-advancement culture, it's a capital-backed monarchy that imports pretty much all of its research and production; in other words it piggy-backs on the knowledge produced in other societies. There is no advancement through dialog in the country itself.
- pydry 6mo ago
  [flagged]
  - dralley 6mo ago
    Ukraine does it to avoid assisting Russian damage assessment and targeting efforts. Avoiding embarrassment is not really part of the equation, especially when they need to push for more international support.
    - oa335 6mo ago
      > Ukraine does it to avoid assisting Russian damage assessment and targeting efforts. Isn’t UAE doing this to avoid Iranian damage assessment and targeting efforts also?
      - michaelt 6mo ago
        The censorship is dual purpose. They want to make it so Iran doesn’t know if they successfully hit that Oracle data centre. But they also want to make it so foreign investors don’t get scared off by the prospect of their data centre getting blown up. Obviously investors will avoid the area so long as missiles are flying - but by coming through the conflict "unscathed" will let them bounce back fast. Likewise with tourism. Which of these is the bigger motivation? Hard to say. But I gather most drones have cameras, so I imagine Iran have a pretty good idea of where their drones are striking.
        kelipso 6mo ago
post-it 6mo ago
It's not in the interests of the UAE to improve. There's the (possibly misattributed? but topical nonetheless) quote by the previous emir of Dubai: > My grandfather rode a camel, my father rode a camel, I drive a Mercedes, my son drives a Land Rover, his son will drive a Land Rover, but his son will ride a camel. They want to prolong the Land Rover phase as long as possible.
- Teknomadix 6mo ago
  So in other words; Mercedes-Benz was the peak, and he was estimating a decline trajectory slower than the rise.
  - chasil 6mo ago
    Assuming that our civilizations can wean ourselves both from fossil fuels and chemical feedstocks, then the camel may be in their future. I think the timing stated here is quite optimistic.
- SanjayMehta 6mo ago
  For what it's worth, the quote is half and half. The full context is that he went on to say he wanted to avoid the second camel. https://www.aap.com.au/factcheck/dubai-sheikhs-words-lost-in-translation-with-viral-quote/ https://www.aap.com.au/factcheck/dubai-sheikhs-words-lost-in...
f6v 6mo ago
> In most of the world such photos would be deemed of public interest You'd absolutely get detained by authorities in Ukraine or Russia for sharing consequences of airstrikes on critical infrastructure. I'm sure other countries would do the same (not that it's good).
- traceroute66 6mo ago
  Well, in Russia you would most likely accidentally fall out of the window that a careless person left open.
  - konart 6mo ago
    You can open Telegram and watch at videos and photos of almost any Ukrainian strike.
    - alephnerd 6mo ago
      A large number of those tend to be vetted. Additonally, frontlines level videos do go through significant vetting and some form of MDM is used on personal phones in the frontlines. Additionally, on the Ukraine side as well as the Russian side, civilian strike information isn't deemed critical from a NatSec perspective as plenty of Russians and Ukrainians lived on both sides of the border and still have relatives on either side, so both assume the other has granular level knowledge of non-frontline spaces.
- dylan604 6mo ago
  obviously, countries have ways to determine BDAs for their attacks, but you don't have to give it to them for free. The concept of oversharing is lost in the age of social media.
- watwut 6mo ago
  In see tons of consequences of attacks on Ukrainian cities. They arw fairly normal thing to see. Ukraine is not trying they are safe country as of now.
skywal_l 6mo ago
Note that they did not "publish" the picture. They shared it in a private group. This is 1984 kind of stuff. This will hurt Dubai's brand way more than any kinetic attack from Iran.
- gerikson 6mo ago
  Dubai's brand (before the war) was "you're welcome to come here to make money, but criticize the government and you're out". I'm sure there's a ton of young influencers who don't know the first thing about the place to not have internalized it, but I remember a spate of articles and books about 15 years ago of Westerners falling afoul of the local laws and losing everything.
  - deleted 6mo ago
    [deleted]
  - notahacker 6mo ago
    Yeah, tbh people not scared by stories of people as wealthy and white and Western as then being prosecuted for kissing their unmarried opposite sex partner on the beach or falling out with the wrong person are not going to be worried about how wartime paranoia interacts with airline employees
  - expedition32 6mo ago
    Actually all those people go to Dubai to SPEND the money. They still make the money in America, Australia and Europe. An important footnote on the economy of Dubai.
- duped 6mo ago
  There are a lot of things that I would expect to hurt Dubai's "brand" but people still travel there. I don't understand why anyone would travel there in times of peace, let alone during war. You don't even need it for connecting flights.
schiffern 6mo ago
>In most of the world such photos would be deemed of public interest and shared OTOH, anyone remember "loose lips sink ships?" Beyond the famous poster, it was backed up by robust censorship laws.[0][1] You might say it's different since we were at war, but this ignores how the threat model and immediacy is very different in the UAE vs here in the (geographically well protected/isolated) US. Battle damage assessment, especially if it's timely, is critical information in any conflict. This is especially true for modern drone-based / hybrid asymmetrical conflict. [0] https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2001/spring/mail-censorship-in-world-war-two-1 https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2001/spring/m... [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Censorship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Censorship
- somenameforme 6mo ago
  Iran is going to be getting constant satellite date. They not only have their own satellite surveillance systems, but also will be getting support, probably covert, from a variety of other countries which also have robust satellite networks. This is solely for "domestic" (which extends well beyond the UAE) PR purposes, and I expect the US is actively encouraging these countries, behind the scenes, to keep losses under wraps.
  - alephnerd 6mo ago
    Feet and inches level precision matters. This is why these kinds of videos are tamped down because they can show how close or far off target a strike was, and is extremely valuable training data. Additionally, seeing who responded, the agencies they are associated with, and their faces matter as well. The UAE is an authoritarian state, but this is how most states operate during a state of war. Even Ukraine tamps down on videos and social media being shared of incidents based on the likelihood whether or not it would expose operational details.
    - somenameforme 6mo ago
      Spy satellites do have precision in the feet and inches. Resolution tends to be in the sub-foot per pixel now a days. But nowhere near this resolution is realistically needed since precision munitions tend to have precision in the tens of meters, and all that really matters is whether you're hitting your target or not. Another way you can see clearly that this is for "domestic" PR and propaganda purposes is that the US government has also compelled US satellite footage providers to censor the entire region. That is providing absolutely zero information to Iran, but is a desperate effort to pair impair the public's access to footage that would either confirm or reject various narratives around the war. I say desperate because Chinese commercial satellite imagery firms continue offering full access to footage of the warzone. The US is even telling satellite firms which language to use, which is loaded with propaganda. For instance instead of speaking of locations being destroyed they're being compelled to say things like "Imagery shows the structure largely collapsed with debris covering the building footprint." I'd say it's 1984, but it's all so painfully ham-fisted that it's far more Brazil. [1] [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil_(1985_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil_(1985_film)
throw_m239339 6mo ago
Foreign residents cannot criticize UAE or its government and monarchy in any way, under threat of prison and/or torture. How is that complicated to understand? It's a brutal regime with a fake Monaco to attract rich tourists, influencers, investors and prostitutes, but the moment you fall in disgrace in the eyes of the authorities, you're done. > ‘I was beaten and tortured’: how a British father and son made a fortune in Dubai then became wanted men https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/05/british-father-son-dubai-fortune-wanted-men-prison-beaten-tortured https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/05/british-father... You're all acting here like UAE is some sort of reasonable country with fair laws, when it's a dictatorship.
- t0mas88 6mo ago
  Exactly. A dictatorship with a medieval religious view on human rights related topics. And most of those influencers aren't even rich...
- brikym 6mo ago
  We now know what happens to a lot of influencers and wannabes: https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/dubai-porta-potty-influencers https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/dubai-porta-potty-influencer... The car junk yards are also really sketchy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrGCv3sZXAQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrGCv3sZXAQ
andai 6mo ago
>How can you improve if there is no dialogue Didn't UAE have a phone line to the king that anyone can call? Sounds like the cost of actually calling it may be higher than I thought though.
- andai 6mo ago
  I visited and asked a friend there if women can vote. She became very offended. What! Of course we can vote!! 10 seconds later Hang on a minute. We have a king. Nobody can vote!
throwawaysleep 6mo ago
The UAE is a bunch of absolute monarchies. You are applying the processes of a democracy to hereditary absolute monarchies.
beepbooptheory 6mo ago
These days when you hear "most of the world.." used as a kind of indirect appeal to common-sense legislation, you just gotta wonder what or who they are talking about anymore. Its a strange beautiful notion though. That there is some grand consesus out there somewhere, in The-most-of-the-world, where laws are just and rational, where states-of-exception only exist in the kitchens and the classrooms. I just know one day the barrelman will cry out, and we will know we have reached the-most-the-world.
littlestymaar 6mo ago
> In most of the world such photos would be deemed of public interest In peacetime, definitely. In war time, there's a necessary balance to be found between “information as public interest” and “providing free battle damage assessment” to an adversary. I'm not saying I'm in favor of jailing people for pictures, but we cannot ignore the importance of intelligence in modern combat with ubiquitous precision weapons. People have similarly been arrested for filming air defense at work in Ukraine, and again it makes sense because giving away key sensitive information for social network cred isn't something you want in a country suffering from a military aggression.
HarHarVeryFunny 6mo ago
> In most of the world such photos would be deemed of public interest and shared by the media Perhaps, but increasingly not here in the US, which used to consider itself the leader of the "Free World". Trump thinks nothing of declaring journalists terrorists and threatening to take away the broadcast licenses of TV stations that are embarrassing him. It'd be nice if we could say this is just Trump, a bad president gone gaga, but the Republican party supports him, so unfortunately this authoritarian control of the media seems to be becoming normalized.
aa_is_op 6mo ago
This was posted inside a private group, so I doubt this applies. He should get a good lawyer.
infecto 6mo ago
Honest question. The UAE is well known for very questionable imported labor. Do you think they or the people who live there care?
- stavros 6mo ago
  But how can they improve if they don't let the slaves criticise the state?!
- mdni007 6mo ago
  When did Americans care so much about the poor laborers from India? Honest question. The United States is well known for funding a genocide and protecting pedophiles. Do you think they or the people who live there care?
  - infecto 6mo ago
    What does your commentary have anything to do with the thread? I don’t think it matters one way or another what Americans think. Edit: I see your post history and it makes sense now.
    - mdni007 6mo ago
      I'm just tired of the hypocrisy
duxup 6mo ago
Sadly I think for those in power it doesn’t hurt them.
Animats 6mo ago
> Is the charge, which I think kind of speaks for itself. Full on: "You embarrassed us, straight to jail." That's exactly it, and the UAE admits it. The Atlantic covered this last month.[1] Dubai uses influencers as part of their strategy to market Dubai as a safe place for rich people. There's an influencer visa. There's a government Creators HQ office to help with relocation and permits. Dubai requires an “Advertiser Permit”, which include a ban on publishing anything that “might harm the national currency or the economic situation in the State.” The BBC showed several influencer videos side by side, all with the same message: "Are you scared? No, because we know who protects us."[1] They're as on-message as Sinclair in the US. So is AlJazeera, now. Earlier in the war, attacks on Dubai were reported. Now, they don't seem to be, although coverage on hits outside the UAE is good. AlJazeera is run by the UAE government. The UAE has been cracking down on this for a while, according to Bellingcat.[3] "Think before you share. Spreading rumors is a crime." The hits on the Burj Al Arab hotel, the Fairmont hotel, and Dubai's airport were too big to hide completely, but UAE authorities did take action against people who posted videos. That was back in late February - early March. News of later hits appears to have been successfully censored. [1] https://www.theatlantic.com/national-security/2026/03/dubai-influencers-war-messaging/686329/ https://www.theatlantic.com/national-security/2026/03/dubai-... [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-giBHZ31RMU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-giBHZ31RMU [3] https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/04/02/war-uae-iran-infuencer-dubai-conflict-drone-successful-strike-intercept-fire/ https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/04/02/war-uae-iran-infu...
- dotancohen 6mo ago
  Most of what you've stated is relevant to Qatar, not UAE. I think that you've got the two confused.
testing22321 6mo ago
> In most of the world such photos would be deemed of public interest I take it you’ve never driven past Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska. Just stopping your car on the public highway or taking photos is a serious crime. Imagine how much shit you’d be in if you took photos of smoke rising from it after a hit.
foxyv 6mo ago
You are providing confirmation of a hit to the enemy as well as the state of the area after the explosion. This is valuable intelligence used for target lists on future strikes. Such information is also used for determining air defense coverage and estimating hit rates. Open source intelligence is a very high priority in modern war. Social media provides massive amounts of free intelligence. For instance, a few secret US bases in Afghanistan were mapped using Strava data from runners. https://www.wired.com/story/strava-heat-map-military-bases-fitness-trackers-privacy/ https://www.wired.com/story/strava-heat-map-military-bases-f...

throwanem 6mo ago

[flagged]

Someone1234 6mo ago
I'm not American. America didn't even exist when most of the core social concepts I referenced were popularized, and it certainly wasn't in the 20th century. Also, very self-telling, that I said "UAE should do better for UAE's own future sake" to which you responded: "you want to take away UAE's sovereignty!" Hmm, very odd, that.
- throwanem 6mo ago
  [flagged]
  - soopypoos 6mo ago
    Great, now my monocle is wet
    - throwanem 6mo ago
      Sonra kurutun.

miohtama 6mo ago

It's public interest of Dubainers of not to expose any problems, as the premise of the emirate is built on loose money, loose rules and high life and this kind of money is first to flee in the case of hiccups.

brikym 6mo ago
Problems such as 'Dubai porta-potty'

netdur 6mo ago

there are two sides, such as how photos can stress citizens and act as propaganda, making them harmful to state interests, ultimately it is their country and their rules, not yours, regardless of how much you disagree with it you are also missing the elephant in the room, whatsapp's claim of end-to-end encryption is a lie

adjejmxbdjdn 6mo ago
Group chats are openly not E2E encrypted. Even personal chats are publicly not E2E encrypted. There are other insidious ways you can publicly and openly end E2E encryption (I think backups might do that). Essentially, while WhatsApp may not be lying their default 1 to 1 chats are E2E encrypted, it makes sense to use it as if it weren’t because it’s so easy to disable it even with their publicly disclosed information.
- Tepix 6mo ago
  Wrong. Both WhatsApp and Signal group chats are E2EE. Telegram group chats are not. Even 1on1 chats aren‘t E2EE on Telegram by default. Also, reporting is an issue: If a member of the group "Reports" a message to WhatsApp, a copy of the recent messages in that chat is decrypted and sent to WhatsApp for review to check for terms-of-service violations.
chasil 6mo ago
The actual text from the article implies that OS exploits compromised the device. "The UAE government owns majority holdings in telecom companies Etisalat and Du. This gives security services the power to observe all communications on their networks. "The Arab state has also used the Israeli-developed software Pegasus which allows agents to listen into private calls and read messages, even if they are shared on encrypted apps like WhatsApp,. "The spyware can infect a device even without the user activating a link - such as via a WhatsApp call, even if it isn't answered. "Once inside, it can access all WhatsApp messages, logos and contacts."
- ufmace 6mo ago

tremon 6mo ago

how can you improve if there is no dialog The UAE doesn't have a self-advancement culture, it's a capital-backed monarchy that imports pretty much all of its research and production; in other words it piggy-backs on the knowledge produced in other societies. There is no advancement through dialog in the country itself.

pydry 6mo ago
[flagged]
- dralley 6mo ago
  Ukraine does it to avoid assisting Russian damage assessment and targeting efforts. Avoiding embarrassment is not really part of the equation, especially when they need to push for more international support.
  - oa335 6mo ago
    > Ukraine does it to avoid assisting Russian damage assessment and targeting efforts. Isn’t UAE doing this to avoid Iranian damage assessment and targeting efforts also?
    - michaelt 6mo ago
      The censorship is dual purpose. They want to make it so Iran doesn’t know if they successfully hit that Oracle data centre. But they also want to make it so foreign investors don’t get scared off by the prospect of their data centre getting blown up. Obviously investors will avoid the area so long as missiles are flying - but by coming through the conflict "unscathed" will let them bounce back fast. Likewise with tourism. Which of these is the bigger motivation? Hard to say. But I gather most drones have cameras, so I imagine Iran have a pretty good idea of where their drones are striking.
      - kelipso 6mo ago

post-it 6mo ago

It's not in the interests of the UAE to improve. There's the (possibly misattributed? but topical nonetheless) quote by the previous emir of Dubai: > My grandfather rode a camel, my father rode a camel, I drive a Mercedes, my son drives a Land Rover, his son will drive a Land Rover, but his son will ride a camel. They want to prolong the Land Rover phase as long as possible.

Teknomadix 6mo ago
So in other words; Mercedes-Benz was the peak, and he was estimating a decline trajectory slower than the rise.
- chasil 6mo ago
  Assuming that our civilizations can wean ourselves both from fossil fuels and chemical feedstocks, then the camel may be in their future. I think the timing stated here is quite optimistic.
SanjayMehta 6mo ago
For what it's worth, the quote is half and half. The full context is that he went on to say he wanted to avoid the second camel. https://www.aap.com.au/factcheck/dubai-sheikhs-words-lost-in-translation-with-viral-quote/ https://www.aap.com.au/factcheck/dubai-sheikhs-words-lost-in...

f6v 6mo ago

> In most of the world such photos would be deemed of public interest You'd absolutely get detained by authorities in Ukraine or Russia for sharing consequences of airstrikes on critical infrastructure. I'm sure other countries would do the same (not that it's good).

traceroute66 6mo ago
Well, in Russia you would most likely accidentally fall out of the window that a careless person left open.
- konart 6mo ago
  You can open Telegram and watch at videos and photos of almost any Ukrainian strike.
  - alephnerd 6mo ago
    A large number of those tend to be vetted. Additonally, frontlines level videos do go through significant vetting and some form of MDM is used on personal phones in the frontlines. Additionally, on the Ukraine side as well as the Russian side, civilian strike information isn't deemed critical from a NatSec perspective as plenty of Russians and Ukrainians lived on both sides of the border and still have relatives on either side, so both assume the other has granular level knowledge of non-frontline spaces.
dylan604 6mo ago
obviously, countries have ways to determine BDAs for their attacks, but you don't have to give it to them for free. The concept of oversharing is lost in the age of social media.
watwut 6mo ago
In see tons of consequences of attacks on Ukrainian cities. They arw fairly normal thing to see. Ukraine is not trying they are safe country as of now.

skywal_l 6mo ago

Note that they did not "publish" the picture. They shared it in a private group. This is 1984 kind of stuff. This will hurt Dubai's brand way more than any kinetic attack from Iran.

gerikson 6mo ago
Dubai's brand (before the war) was "you're welcome to come here to make money, but criticize the government and you're out". I'm sure there's a ton of young influencers who don't know the first thing about the place to not have internalized it, but I remember a spate of articles and books about 15 years ago of Westerners falling afoul of the local laws and losing everything.
- deleted 6mo ago
  [deleted]
- notahacker 6mo ago
  Yeah, tbh people not scared by stories of people as wealthy and white and Western as then being prosecuted for kissing their unmarried opposite sex partner on the beach or falling out with the wrong person are not going to be worried about how wartime paranoia interacts with airline employees
- expedition32 6mo ago
  Actually all those people go to Dubai to SPEND the money. They still make the money in America, Australia and Europe. An important footnote on the economy of Dubai.
duped 6mo ago
There are a lot of things that I would expect to hurt Dubai's "brand" but people still travel there. I don't understand why anyone would travel there in times of peace, let alone during war. You don't even need it for connecting flights.

schiffern 6mo ago

>In most of the world such photos would be deemed of public interest and shared OTOH, anyone remember "loose lips sink ships?" Beyond the famous poster, it was backed up by robust censorship laws.[0][1] You might say it's different since we were at war, but this ignores how the threat model and immediacy is very different in the UAE vs here in the (geographically well protected/isolated) US. Battle damage assessment, especially if it's timely, is critical information in any conflict. This is especially true for modern drone-based / hybrid asymmetrical conflict. [0] https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2001/spring/mail-censorship-in-world-war-two-1 https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2001/spring/m... [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Censorship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Censorship

somenameforme 6mo ago
Iran is going to be getting constant satellite date. They not only have their own satellite surveillance systems, but also will be getting support, probably covert, from a variety of other countries which also have robust satellite networks. This is solely for "domestic" (which extends well beyond the UAE) PR purposes, and I expect the US is actively encouraging these countries, behind the scenes, to keep losses under wraps.
- alephnerd 6mo ago
  Feet and inches level precision matters. This is why these kinds of videos are tamped down because they can show how close or far off target a strike was, and is extremely valuable training data. Additionally, seeing who responded, the agencies they are associated with, and their faces matter as well. The UAE is an authoritarian state, but this is how most states operate during a state of war. Even Ukraine tamps down on videos and social media being shared of incidents based on the likelihood whether or not it would expose operational details.
  - somenameforme 6mo ago
    Spy satellites do have precision in the feet and inches. Resolution tends to be in the sub-foot per pixel now a days. But nowhere near this resolution is realistically needed since precision munitions tend to have precision in the tens of meters, and all that really matters is whether you're hitting your target or not. Another way you can see clearly that this is for "domestic" PR and propaganda purposes is that the US government has also compelled US satellite footage providers to censor the entire region. That is providing absolutely zero information to Iran, but is a desperate effort to pair impair the public's access to footage that would either confirm or reject various narratives around the war. I say desperate because Chinese commercial satellite imagery firms continue offering full access to footage of the warzone. The US is even telling satellite firms which language to use, which is loaded with propaganda. For instance instead of speaking of locations being destroyed they're being compelled to say things like "Imagery shows the structure largely collapsed with debris covering the building footprint." I'd say it's 1984, but it's all so painfully ham-fisted that it's far more Brazil. [1] [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil_(1985_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil_(1985_film)

throw_m239339 6mo ago

Foreign residents cannot criticize UAE or its government and monarchy in any way, under threat of prison and/or torture. How is that complicated to understand? It's a brutal regime with a fake Monaco to attract rich tourists, influencers, investors and prostitutes, but the moment you fall in disgrace in the eyes of the authorities, you're done. > ‘I was beaten and tortured’: how a British father and son made a fortune in Dubai then became wanted men https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/05/british-father-son-dubai-fortune-wanted-men-prison-beaten-tortured https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/05/british-father... You're all acting here like UAE is some sort of reasonable country with fair laws, when it's a dictatorship.

t0mas88 6mo ago
Exactly. A dictatorship with a medieval religious view on human rights related topics. And most of those influencers aren't even rich...
brikym 6mo ago
We now know what happens to a lot of influencers and wannabes: https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/dubai-porta-potty-influencers https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/dubai-porta-potty-influencer... The car junk yards are also really sketchy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrGCv3sZXAQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrGCv3sZXAQ

andai 6mo ago

>How can you improve if there is no dialogue Didn't UAE have a phone line to the king that anyone can call? Sounds like the cost of actually calling it may be higher than I thought though.

andai 6mo ago
I visited and asked a friend there if women can vote. She became very offended. What! Of course we can vote!! 10 seconds later Hang on a minute. We have a king. Nobody can vote!

throwawaysleep 6mo ago

The UAE is a bunch of absolute monarchies. You are applying the processes of a democracy to hereditary absolute monarchies.

beepbooptheory 6mo ago

These days when you hear "most of the world.." used as a kind of indirect appeal to common-sense legislation, you just gotta wonder what or who they are talking about anymore. Its a strange beautiful notion though. That there is some grand consesus out there somewhere, in The-most-of-the-world, where laws are just and rational, where states-of-exception only exist in the kitchens and the classrooms. I just know one day the barrelman will cry out, and we will know we have reached the-most-the-world.

littlestymaar 6mo ago

> In most of the world such photos would be deemed of public interest In peacetime, definitely. In war time, there's a necessary balance to be found between “information as public interest” and “providing free battle damage assessment” to an adversary. I'm not saying I'm in favor of jailing people for pictures, but we cannot ignore the importance of intelligence in modern combat with ubiquitous precision weapons. People have similarly been arrested for filming air defense at work in Ukraine, and again it makes sense because giving away key sensitive information for social network cred isn't something you want in a country suffering from a military aggression.

HarHarVeryFunny 6mo ago

> In most of the world such photos would be deemed of public interest and shared by the media Perhaps, but increasingly not here in the US, which used to consider itself the leader of the "Free World". Trump thinks nothing of declaring journalists terrorists and threatening to take away the broadcast licenses of TV stations that are embarrassing him. It'd be nice if we could say this is just Trump, a bad president gone gaga, but the Republican party supports him, so unfortunately this authoritarian control of the media seems to be becoming normalized.

aa_is_op 6mo ago

This was posted inside a private group, so I doubt this applies. He should get a good lawyer.

infecto 6mo ago

Honest question. The UAE is well known for very questionable imported labor. Do you think they or the people who live there care?

stavros 6mo ago
But how can they improve if they don't let the slaves criticise the state?!
mdni007 6mo ago
When did Americans care so much about the poor laborers from India? Honest question. The United States is well known for funding a genocide and protecting pedophiles. Do you think they or the people who live there care?
- infecto 6mo ago
  What does your commentary have anything to do with the thread? I don’t think it matters one way or another what Americans think. Edit: I see your post history and it makes sense now.
  - mdni007 6mo ago
    I'm just tired of the hypocrisy

duxup 6mo ago

Sadly I think for those in power it doesn’t hurt them.

Animats 6mo ago

> Is the charge, which I think kind of speaks for itself. Full on: "You embarrassed us, straight to jail." That's exactly it, and the UAE admits it. The Atlantic covered this last month.[1] Dubai uses influencers as part of their strategy to market Dubai as a safe place for rich people. There's an influencer visa. There's a government Creators HQ office to help with relocation and permits. Dubai requires an “Advertiser Permit”, which include a ban on publishing anything that “might harm the national currency or the economic situation in the State.” The BBC showed several influencer videos side by side, all with the same message: "Are you scared? No, because we know who protects us."[1] They're as on-message as Sinclair in the US. So is AlJazeera, now. Earlier in the war, attacks on Dubai were reported. Now, they don't seem to be, although coverage on hits outside the UAE is good. AlJazeera is run by the UAE government. The UAE has been cracking down on this for a while, according to Bellingcat.[3] "Think before you share. Spreading rumors is a crime." The hits on the Burj Al Arab hotel, the Fairmont hotel, and Dubai's airport were too big to hide completely, but UAE authorities did take action against people who posted videos. That was back in late February - early March. News of later hits appears to have been successfully censored. [1] https://www.theatlantic.com/national-security/2026/03/dubai-influencers-war-messaging/686329/ https://www.theatlantic.com/national-security/2026/03/dubai-... [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-giBHZ31RMU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-giBHZ31RMU [3] https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/04/02/war-uae-iran-infuencer-dubai-conflict-drone-successful-strike-intercept-fire/ https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/04/02/war-uae-iran-infu...

dotancohen 6mo ago
Most of what you've stated is relevant to Qatar, not UAE. I think that you've got the two confused.

testing22321 6mo ago

> In most of the world such photos would be deemed of public interest I take it you’ve never driven past Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska. Just stopping your car on the public highway or taking photos is a serious crime. Imagine how much shit you’d be in if you took photos of smoke rising from it after a hit.

foxyv 6mo ago

You are providing confirmation of a hit to the enemy as well as the state of the area after the explosion. This is valuable intelligence used for target lists on future strikes. Such information is also used for determining air defense coverage and estimating hit rates. Open source intelligence is a very high priority in modern war. Social media provides massive amounts of free intelligence. For instance, a few secret US bases in Afghanistan were mapped using Strava data from runners. https://www.wired.com/story/strava-heat-map-military-bases-fitness-trackers-privacy/ https://www.wired.com/story/strava-heat-map-military-bases-f...