MENA tightens control over online space
New restrictions across MENA are reshaping access to the internet.
Welcome back to AL-MONITOR FutureVerse.
This week, we explore how internet access is changing in the Middle East in a turbulent 2026. We also look at a high-seas crypto scam, drone innovations, military tech spending and beyond.
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Sam (@sam_wendel)
TOP STORY
A man uses his mobile phone while standing at the Valiasr Square in Tehran on April 19, 2026. — ATTA KENARE / AFP via Getty Images
MENA’s online spaces under pressure
Iran announced a temporary scheme on Tuesday allowing businesses limited access to the global internet as the country’s sweeping online blackout entered its 60th day. Despite the narrow opening, roughly 90 million people remain almost entirely offline, with only limited access to a tightly controlled domestic network. While the shutdown’s scale has generated plenty of headlines, it’s also part of a broader shift in how governments across the Middle East and North Africa are shaping digital access in a volatile 2026.
In the Gulf, authorities in countries facing Iranian bombardment have proactively clamped down on wartime online content, a jarring experience for the region’s many influencers. The limits have also ensnared journalists such as Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, who was detained for weeks in Kuwait until last Thursday, when he was cleared of charges tied to sharing war-related imagery online.
At the same time, 2026 is also bringing longer-term regulatory changes in the region amid mounting global concerns over the impact of social media on children's health and safety. Last week, Turkey advanced legislation barring children under 15 from using social media. Egypt is exploring similar restrictions and plans to introduce a “child SIM card” with built-in controls by June.
Internet constraints are nothing new in MENA, and some regional developments mirror global trends. In December 2025, for instance, Australia became the first country to adopt nationwide youth social media restrictions. But this wave of new digital controls in the region is already set to have long-term effects, with 2026 shaping up to be a watershed moment for MENA’s online spaces.
CLICKABLE
A model of Bayraktar AKINCI TİHA (Assault Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) in the sky on March 2, 2022, Corlu, Turkey. — Baykar Press Office/ via Getty Images
Turkish drone giant Baykar has tested its K2 kamikaze drones alongside new loitering systems for the first time, marking a further step in Ankara’s push toward autonomous battlefield technologies and the ability to operate when GPS signals are jammed.
Fraudulent messages promising safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for cryptocurrency have been sent to some shipping companies whose vessels are stranded inside the strategic waterway.
With Iran's schools closed because of the war, classes are being held via television programs and the national intranet. Children without laptops or smartphones are being left out.
Researchers have finally deciphered Fast16, a sabotage malware that may have targeted Iran’s nuclear program in 2005, two years before the legendary Stuxnet cyber attack.
A multimillion-dollar pro-Israel social media campaign led by former Trump lieutenant Brad Parscale has focused on reshaping how AI platforms portray the nation.
DEALFLOW
High-tech robotics handling electronic components in a modern manufacturing facility.— Getty Images
- United Arab Emirates launches $272 million National Industrial Resilience Fund aimed at domestic manufacturing, supply chains and AI
- Business payments platform Comfi (UAE) raises $65 million
- Quantum computing company Quantum Art (Israel) secures $140 million
- AI communications platform Band (Israel) raises $17 million
- AI-powered contract management platform Signit (Saudi Arabia) raises $15 million
- Food services technology startup Fascano (Oman) secures $10 million
- European Bank for Reconstruction and Development provides loan of up to $5 million to Fawry MSME Finance (Egypt) to support local youth entrepreneurs
- Online cake-ordering platform Lola (Bahrain) raises $3 million
- Subsidiary of sovereign wealth fund Abu Dhabi Investment Authority invests in TeraHop, a Singapore-based supplier of high-speed optical transceivers for data centers
- Venture capital firm Speedinvest (Austria) launches its first flagship fund dedicated to Middle East and Africa
- Mobile games publisher Tamatem (Jordan) acquires ad-tech company Playable Factory (Turkey)
- Defense-tech fund Protego (Israel) invests in Rilian, US startup co-founded by son of former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
DATA DISCOVERY
With the US-Israel-Iran war poised to drive new demand for defense technologies, military spending in the Middle East reached an estimated $218 billion in 2025 — rising just 0.1% from a year earlier but up 36% since 2016, according to new data released by arms watchdog Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
ACTIONABLE INTELLIGENCE
A hacker working in a secret room. — Getty Images
🚨 The UK’s cybersecurity agency has warned that Britain should brace for a rise in cyberattacks linked to hostile states including Iran.
📞 Elon Musk rang up UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan last week to discuss advanced technology, AI and space, according to the UAE’s official news agency.
🗓️ Event watch: The 12th edition of the Syria HiTech exhibition opens on Tuesday at the Damascus Fairgrounds, featuring 150 companies representing 345 brands from 45 countries.
💸 Chasing crypto: Last Friday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced sanctions targeting digital wallets tied to Iran, resulting in a freeze on $344 million in cryptocurrency.
✈️ Emirates has completed the first installation of next-generation Starlink Wi-Fi on its Airbus A380 aircraft.
🚀 See Morocco’s $700 million rocket-inspired skyscraper.
👉 Israel must contend with Hezbollah's fiber optic drones while a growing dependence on Chinese drones could be exposing the country’s military to new weaknesses.
📖 There is a new playbook for startups navigating uncertainty in the Middle East and North Africa.