What we know about UAE blocking X accounts accused of misinformation
A number of X accounts including Al Arabiya Breaking are now not accessible in the Gulf state as Abu Dhabi navigates regional turmoil.
Several X users said this week that their accounts cannot be accessed in the United Arab Emirates after the Gulf state issued a warning about false news amid the war with Iran.
What happened: Reports of X accounts being blocked in the UAE first surfaced on the social media site on Wednesday. The news site Clash Report said on Thursday that it had been blocked in the UAE. The site defended itself, saying, “We only reported on the situation in the UAE.”
The UAE has blocked Clash Report’s X account in the country.
— Clash Report (@clashreport) March 5, 2026
We only reported on the situation in the UAE.
UAE authorities are also censoring information about explosions in the country. Searches on X show no results without VPN. pic.twitter.com/O7zyoeNBDC
Clash Report, which is based in Turkey and has more than 770,000 followers, regularly posts content from other outlets, much of it related to the Middle East. On Tuesday, the outlet claimed that Iran had struck US-made THAAD missile defense sites in the UAE. The assertion has not been verified by authorities or other outlets. Clash Report has been active on X since 2015.
American social media influencer Jackson Hinkle also said on Thursday that he had received emails from X and the UAE government stating that his account had been banned in the Gulf state over alleged cybercrimes.
