Dubai authorities warn against posting storm pictures online

Rating Justification

The iVerify Pakistan team has checked this content and has established that it is false.

To arrive at this verdict, the iVerify Pakistan team investigated the actions of Dubai’s authorities regarding the online dissemination of pictures about the recent record-breaking storm in the United Arab Emirates.

HOW IT STARTED

On April 18, 2024, iVerify Pakistan received an alert from the public tipline seeking authentication for a claim.

The individual sending the tip said they received a forwarded image on WhatsApp which looked to be a report titled: “It’s now illegal to post storm pictures online, Dubai authorities warn”.

The screenshot of the report did not show the date.

The team investigated the virality of the image, as well as its content, on social media platform X and found some posts making the same claim and one post sharing the screenshot of the report but overall not many users were discussing or disseminating it.

The posts observed can be seen here, here and here.

METHODOLOGY

The iVerify Pakistan team initiated an investigation into the claim due to its relevance to the recent record-breaking storm in the UAE and the public’s keen interest in the response of Dubai’s authorities to those sharing visuals from the event.

To verify the claim, the team conducted a Google search for the report and its title which yielded a news story from ARY News, dated March 16, 2016.

The headline and the first two paragraphs of the report screenshot and the news story were a perfect match, with the only difference being that the date was removed.

The news story was about the flooding in Dubai in March 2016 and referred to a report from British publication The International Business Times about a prison sentence and a fine for anyone damaging the UAE’s reputation online.

The report by The International Business Times, titled “UAE floods: Posting pictures and ‘rumours’ about heavy rain online could result in jail”, in turn, relied on a story dated March 13, 2016, by Dubai-based news outlet Emirates 24/7 titled: “UAE rain rumours on social media: Officials warn of jail and fine”.

Citing a report by Arabic newspaper Emarat Al Youm, the story said: “Officials have warned people in the UAE about spreading rumours and posting negative images and videos of rains, accidents and fires on social networking sites.”

It said that such actions were punishable by law and contained quotes from various government officials warning about the repercussions of such actions.

Notably, no report about similar warnings or instructions was found for the April 2024 storm in the UAE that also saw mass flooding and widely spread visuals of the damage from the rains.

BACKGROUND

On April 16, 2024, the UAE saw its heaviest rains in the 75 years that records have been kept, bringing much of the country to a standstill for two days and causing significant damage.

Twenty people were reported dead in Oman and one in the UAE while flooding trapped residents in traffic, offices and homes. In Dubai, operations at the airport, a major travel hub, remained disrupted after the storm flooded the runway, resulting in flight diversions, delays and cancellations.

In March 2016, heavy rainstorms swept through the UAE, resulting in flooded roads and the cancellation of flights. Authorities had responded to the crisis by cautioning against the spread of rumours and irresponsible behaviour on social media platforms.

CONCLUSION

The iVerify Pakistan team has determined that the claim regarding the warning by Dubai authorities against posting pictures of storm damage online is false as no such direction has been issued in wake of the April 2024 storm.

The report about the warnings from authorities was an old one from a previous storm in March 2016 and no report was found to this effect from the timeframe of the April 2024 storm.

Evidence and References

ARY News story from March 2016:
https://arynews.tv/dubai-uae-illegal-to-post-storm-pictures-online/

International Business Times story from March 2016:
https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/uae-floods-posting-pictures-rumours-about-heavy-rain-online-could-result-jail-1549393

Emirates 24/7 story from March 2016:
https://www.emirates247.com/news/emirates/uae-rain-rumours-on-social-media-officials-warn-of-jail-and-fine-2016-03-13-1.624032