Dubai's
influencers have a new rule: Don't mention the war
By Riley
Stuart in Jerusalem
Mon 9 Mar
Monday 9
March
As
missiles and drones began lighting up the sky over Dubai, many of the city's
social media personalities became citizen journalists.
Regular
programming about abs, real estate and cryptocurrency was replaced with frantic
updates on Iran's latest attacks.
Iran war
live updates: For the latest news on the Middle East crisis, read our blog.
"That
was metres away from us. Look at this," Will Bailey told his 130,000
Instagram followers in one video filmed from a beach club on the opening day of
the war.
It shows
plumes of smoke billowing from a nearby building.
"That
is the Fairmont Hotel in Dubai. Oh my God."
Bailey, a
British fitness influencer and online coach, shared several reels in the
subsequent days and also gave interviews to Western media outlets. He only
moved to Dubai in February.
"The
reason I'm so panicky … there's a lot of people who are not taking it
seriously," he complained in one interview with radio station LBC.
As the
week wore on, something changed. The missiles and drones kept coming. The
videos, however, stopped.
Bailey
has ceased posting altogether, but some other influencers in the region have
begun uploading gushing tributes to the United Arab Emirates's government and
military.
Now, many
people in the country and elsewhere are suspicious about censorship.
About 90
per cent of the UAE's population are expats, and over the past three decades
the country has built a reputation as a luxurious, sun-drenched tax haven
bursting with business opportunities.
Generous,
sponsorship-free visa schemes make it a popular base among content creators.
For
cashed-up Westerners, life in its glittering cities of Dubai and Abu Dhabi is
good, so long as they make a few authoritarian adjustments.
Portraits
of billionaire hereditary rulers — known as sheikhs — adorn the interiors of
many buildings. Homosexuality is punishable by death. Alcohol is tolerated, but
public drunkenness is not.
The UAE
is strict but safe. Or at least it was, before the war started.
Videos
thanking sheikhs 'very cringe'
So far,
Iran has fired more than 1,000 missiles and drones at its Gulf neighbour, the
vast majority of which have been shot down by air-defence systems.
But with
every bang in the skies, anxieties on the ground grow.
Traditional
media is heavily regulated in the UAE, but these days everyone — not just
journalists — has been put on notice.
After the
war erupted, authorities announced that people who shared misinformation or
even something that "results in inciting panic among people" could be
prosecuted. Only officially verified information is safe to post.
This
tough, arbitrary edict effectively means the country's government gets to
decide what is and is not true.
Video
appears to show drone attack on Dubai airport (Reddit)
For
example, one video filmed on Saturday clearly shows an Iranian drone crashing
into a building at Dubai Airport. However, actually saying that is risky
because authorities say it was debris from an interception.
Now, the
viral clips that once showed attacks are largely gone. Instead, some
influencers are pumping out patriotic messages and thanking the government.
An update
published by state media in the UAE remarked how quickly the Fairmont Hotel had
reopened after "a fire" (there was no mention of the drone that hit
it).
The
country's leader, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, has been on a PR blitz
too, visiting hospitals and shopping in public — something seldom seen pre-war.
Analysts
argue this is a coordinated attempt to swamp the details of the unpredictable
reality — such as airport queues and emergency sirens — with a more flattering
narrative.
In one
trend being questioned, scores of social media personalities have been posting
slow-motion clips of the sheikhs accompanied by text like "we know who
protects us".
"It's
very cringe. While I wouldn't personally call it propaganda, it's definitely a
PR campaign," one Australian man, who fled Dubai with his family last
week, told the ABC.
"Having
said that, I think many people there have confidence in the government. The
government is highly competent, and it does deliver.
"I
just think it's a shame how tightly they feel that they need to control the
narrative. I think they could be more transparent."
The UAE
is not the only Gulf state clamping down on residents who post online.
In nearby
Qatar — which has also been a target of Iran's — police have detained at least
313 people for "filming and circulating videos, spreading rumours and
publishing misleading information" related to the war.
Kuwait's
government has completely banned the publication of anything related to the fighting.
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