Authorities in the United Arab Emirates have detained 35 individuals, including 19 Indian nationals, for allegedly circulating "misleading and fabricated" social media content during the current period of high tension in West Asia. The arrests come as the UAE government enforces a strict zero-tolerance policy against the filming of military interceptions or the spread of unverified information that could incite public panic.
The UAE Attorney-General, Dr Hamad Saif Al Shamsi, ordered the fast-track trial of 25 suspects on Sunday, following the detention of an initial group of 10 people on Saturday. According to a statement from the prosecutor’s office, electronic monitoring revealed that the defendants were split into three distinct categories of digital dissent. The first group reportedly filmed genuine footage of missiles in UAE airspace, adding commentary and sound effects designed to exaggerate the threat. The second group is accused of using artificial intelligence to create "deepfake" explosions and misleadingly re-posting footage of foreign conflicts as though they were happening locally.
Perhaps most significantly, a third group — consisting almost entirely of Indian nationals — was charged with "glorifying" a hostile state and its military leadership. Authorities claim these individuals shared propaganda that painted regional military aggression as a series of achievements, a move the UAE says directly harms its national interests.
Dr Al Shamsi warned that these actions are being treated as serious crimes under national security laws, carrying a minimum sentence of one year in prison and fines starting at 100,000 Dirhams. The public prosecution has already started interrogating the detainees, with many of them still in prison awaiting trial. For the large number of expatriates living in the UAE, the crackdown is a wake-up call that even the most innocent-looking social media use can have dire consequences in a region of such volatility.
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