What life’s REALLY like in war-torn Dubai: The glittering tax-free influencer fantasy is unravelling as ex pats are arrested and handled as criminals for merely taking a photograph of drone harm and sending to frightened family
For years, Dubai has been sold to the world as a glittering, tax-free paradise, a place where ambition is rewarded, luxury is normalised, and street safety is virtually guaranteed.
For hundreds of thousands of Brits fed up with rising crime, red tape and the high cost of living, a sun-soaked, tax-free lifestyle has proved irresistible.
But now, as images of explosions, drone strikes and arrests begin to spread, that narrative is starting to crack.
Many have been shocked by the way Dubai authorities are treating ordinary people.
In recent days, we at Detained in Dubai have been inundated with cases of ex-pats who have been detained after sharing images of drone strikes and explosions, even when those images were merely sent privately to family members simply to reassure them that they were safe.
Some were inside buildings that were struck and, despite being survivors, were treated as criminals.
In several cases we have handled, authorities attended buildings in the aftermath, requesting access to residents’ phones and reviewing personal content on the spot. Those found to have taken photographs, even if never shared publicly, were arrested. They were then driven straight to the police station and the contents of their phone was deleted, erasing any evidence of drone strikes.
We have seen ordinary residents caught up in this, including parents, workers and those simply trying to reassure loved ones.
As images of explosions, drone strikes and arrests begin to spread, the narrative is starting to crack. Palm Jumeirah hotel in Dubai is pictured alight
Videos posted to social media showed a huge plume of smoke rising from the building on March 3, which local authorities revealed was hit by a missile
At the same time, official messaging and influencer content continues to present Dubai as entirely safe, dismissing concerns as exaggeration or misinformation.
For many, this now feels completely detached from reality.
People have been killed and injured, and residents are receiving ‘take cover’ alerts, sending them to shelter in car parks with their families. It is ridiculous to claim Dubai is safe. We are receiving calls all day from people trapped by travel bans over trivial matters like landlord disputes, desperately trying to get out to safety.
Arresting people for privately sharing images already circulating in global media is not about safety. Many expats who chose to stay have been supportive of Dubai, but treating investors and businesspeople like enemies of the state risks doing lasting damage to the country’s reputation.
Shocking all this may be but the reality is that none of it is new.
The risks, the authoritarianism and the arrests have always been there, but the UAE’s response to the recent attacks has amplified and exposed them, and people are now seeing it en masse for the first time. Many expats are struggling to reconcile the country they once loved with a reality in which survivors and ordinary people who meant no harm are being arrested.
They had a completely different view of Dubai, largely shaped by influencer culture, which has been actively cultivated.
Last year the state even opened a so-called ‘Influencer Academy’ – a school for influencers – part of a broader strategy to recruit, train and incentivise content creators to promote the city globally.
Has Dubai’s carefully crafted image of safety and luxury begun to crack now that the reality is harder to ignore?
Influencers in Dubai have been posting identical videos emphasising the safety of the city which have been seen millions of times
Socialite Petra Ecclestone cried as she described explosions before, describing how ‘grateful’ she was for ‘how much Dubai puts safety first’ and how ‘welcomed and safe it has made us feel’
Vicky Pattison (pictured in Dubai) has claimed the city is still ‘one of the safest places in the world’ – as the Daily Mail has learned that behind the glitzy, public relations messages lies a more menacing reality
Alongside licensing systems and state-backed initiatives, it has effectively created a pipeline of influencers tasked with projecting a carefully controlled image of Dubai as safe and aspirational.
As I have previously warned, this amounts to state-backed propaganda, a deliberate effort to whitewash the reality on the ground.
Influencers are not going to tell you that a negative review can land you in prison, that false accusations and hearsay can lead to detention, or that victims of crime are often silenced through pressure, pay-offs or threats.
The image of Dubai as safe and aspirational is then amplified by reality television such as Dubai Bling and other productions the city has invested in, creating a glossy, aspirational version of Dubai that leaves out the risks.
Scroll through social media and you will see it everywhere: infinity pools, supercars, ‘safe streets’, and the promise of a better life. Celebrities and high-profile entrepreneurs reinforce the narrative, and many expats feel pressure to promote Dubai in a positive light.
What you won’t see are the legal realities that sit beneath that polished surface, the arbitrary detentions, human rights violations and even deaths in custody.
For decades, the UAE has maintained a strict system of censorship, where criticism of the government, institutions, or even individuals can lead to arrest.
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At the heart of the system are sweeping cybercrime laws that govern not only what people say publicly, but what they share privately
Journalists, lawyers and residents alike have long been aware that speaking openly carries risk, and from time to time the authorities issue clear warnings as we saw with the Princess Haya scandal, Covid, and now.
At the heart of this system are sweeping cybercrime laws that govern not only what people say publicly, but what they share privately.
Under these laws, actions that would be considered trivial in the UK can become criminal offences in Dubai, from sending a message that contains profanity, to sharing a post authorities later deem false, disagreeable or misleading, to posting a negative review about a company, as in the case of Craig Ballantine, or about a product or service, or even complaining about poor customer service.
There have been cases of individuals detained over private WhatsApp messages exchanged between friends, spouses, flatmates or colleagues. Others have faced legal action for social media posts made years earlier, outside the UAE, only to be arrested upon arrival as happened to British national Laleh Shahravesh, detained in Dubai over Facebook comments written in the UK years earlier.
The reach of these laws goes far beyond Dubai’s borders. Posts made years earlier in another country can still be used against you, leaving many visitors exposed.
And it does not stop there.
The system is also open to misuse. Complaints can be made by individuals, and once a complaint is filed, the process often appears to favour the accuser. We have seen cases where people have reported others out of spite, trawling through years of social media activity to find something that could be interpreted as offensive.
In many instances, complaints are used as leverage, with individuals expected to pay to resolve the matter. Some have paid tens of thousands of dollars simply to have a case closed and a travel ban lifted. It’s extortion.
Absolutely no content can be posted by influencers that could damage the Dubai brand
Tourists and locals living in Dubai have been seen scrambling to leave at Dubai International Airport
In some cases, claims supported by fabricated evidence have still led to arrest, particularly in relationship disputes.
We have increasingly received reports from female victims that their ‘handlers’ threaten them with cybercrime allegations to force compliance. The women know they can be easily jailed and feel they have no escape.
Many visitors may already be in breach of these laws without realising it. For years, some have understood the need to tread carefully in Dubai. But many others do not and even those who try to keep a low profile, avoid attention and watch what they say can still find themselves in trouble.
But now, amid heightened tensions and recent attacks, enforcement has intensified dramatically.
Those who have remained in Dubai need to be extra cautious. The UAE is one of the most digitally surveilled countries in the world, where VPNs are illegal and even private messages can be scrutinised. Authorities including the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA), working with police cybercrime units, monitor online activity and enforce strict laws on what can be said and shared.
In that kind of environment, social media becomes a risk, not just what you post, but what you’ve posted before and how it is interpreted. Dubai is not just strict, it is unpredictable, and people can find themselves in serious trouble without realising they have done anything wrong.
What happens next is unlikely to reassure anyone.
If anything, we are likely to see more of these cases, not fewer. We’ve seen this pattern before. When there is instability, enforcement ramps up, complaints increase, and more people get pulled into civil and criminal cases they never expected.
That has real consequences for Dubai’s economy. Disputes rise, people lose jobs, debts get called in, and what should be civil matters quickly turn into criminal cases, travel bans and even Interpol Red Notices. We saw it after the financial crisis and again during Covid.
Dubai is built on its reputation, and that reputation is now under serious strain. If investor confidence shifts from opportunity to risk, the damage will not be easy to reverse.
