Every country has its own rules and regulations regarding new technologies like the Internet.
Since most of the people in Middle East and North Africa are Muslims and most of the countries in this region are governed by dictators, there are some rules that seem completely strange to westerners.
In the United Arab Emirates , which is a mixture of a dictatorship and being a religious based country, there are some rules that make the country very different from the western counties.
A city like Dubai forbids people from drinking alcohol on the street or in the park, but there are places where drinking is allowed, like bars. So if UAE’s police arrest you while you are drunk or while you are drinking on the street, then you might face imprisonment and a fine of at least a few thousand emirate dirhams.
Here is a list of some online occurrences that may result in a fine or even imprisonment if you take part in them.
Create an publishing Pornography website and content
Selling drugs and illegal substances online
Publishing any offensive content about the Ruler of Dubai, Abu Dhabi or other authorities
Publishing contents that is offensive to any religion or prophet
As you can see most of these rules are similar in many western countries as well. If you’re in UAE, you should avoid engaging in any of these illegal activities, otherwise you’ll be charged or jailed.
Is using a VPN a criminal activity in UAE?
In UAE, there is a regulatory organization called Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (TRA), which defines what type of online activities are illegal.
According to what this organization has announced so far about using a VPN in United Arab Emirates:
“VPN usage is only and only illegal when you use it to commit a crime.”
As a result, if you use a VPN to facilitate or hide any criminal activity, you will be fined by a UAE court.
Consequently, Using a VPN itself would not constitute a crime if it is used for legitimate purposes.
How much is the fine for using a VPN?
As said, if you use a VPN for committing a criminal activity or concealing your IP address to do a crime or prevent authorities from being discovered shall result in a punishment of temporary imprisonment and a fine of not less than AED 500,000 and not more than AED 2,000,000.
Again we should mention that if you are using a VPN for regular activities such as making voice calls using Whatsapp or Facetime, watching Netflix, Hotstar or Hulu, you won’t get any fine from the government of UAE.
Furthermore, if you use VPN for banking, or for internal communication within your organization or University, you won’t commit any crime so you don’t need to worry about getting a fine.
Which VPN is legal in UAE?
We have an specific article about VPN legality in UAE which you can read it here .
At a glance, there is no verified VPN app or company by UAE’s government yet, but basically VPN services that their headquarters are in the European Union can be a good choice for UAE’s residence.
The reason is that the EU has a strict user privacy policy which all the Internet companies in there including VPN providers must follow. so we strongly suggest you to use a VPN from an EU region.
Use MenaVPN and don’t worry about getting any fine!
MenaVPN is a Dutch company, and 100% aligned with EU user privacy policy.
Based on users rating on the Appstore, MenaVPN is the best VPN app for iOS in UAE by achieving a rating of 4.7 out of 5. You can learn more about it here
You can simply download MenaVPN below for your preferred device.
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PS: This is our perception of the law of UAE, but you’d better consult with a lawyer if you think this act might be risky in UAE.
Ram Narayan Mochi
January 31, 2023 at 3:00 amVPN FINE