Transcription
See if you can spot what's wrong with these videos from Dubai. >> Over the beach club is mental in the safest country in the city in the world. That was meters away from us. Look at this. That is the Fairmont Hotel in Dubai. >> They're not AI. They're real. The Fairmont Palm Hotel in Dubai was hit.
The problem from the United Arab Emirates government point of view is that these videos were captured and posted at all and now they're punishing people for it. People with social media accounts are being threatened with prosecution if they post anything about what they're witnessing. >>
This is a real PR crisis for the UAE. Dubai has worked hard and poured billions into cultivating this image of being a kind of luxury bubble, a futuristic paradise in the Middle East. Attracting foreign money and foreigners themselves is how the UAE survives. almost 90% of its entire population are expats and influencer culture >> is such a part of how the country advertises itself. It even has a special visa for content creators.
But since the war began in Iran, we're seeing more of this >> panic, chaos, and injuries at the Dubai airport overnight. >> Drone has hit a residential tower overnight in Dubai. An Iranian missile has just struck the building right next to me. Look at this smoke. >>
And on those influencers, the UAE is clamping down in soft ways, like reminding people, especially since the start of the war. Do not film, do not post, do not share anything that hasn't come from official and authorized sources. And >> with every share, the fear grows. A single false piece of information can make people cancel travel, lose work. >>
But they're reacting more harshly than that, too. This post from Dubai police threatens the equivalent of about $50,000 US in fines, even jail time, for anyone caught spreading rumors that contradict official reports or threaten safety and order. In Dubai, a 60-year-old British man was reportedly charged and detained after filming Iranian missiles flying overhead. And apparently he's just one of 20 who have been charged for similar crimes. So is it any surprise we've now seen some influencers approach the war a little differently?