Twitter users should be aware of local laws when posting potentially inflammatory content, the country's telecommunications regulator has warned.
Tweets must comply not only with Twitter's terms of service, but also U.A.E. laws and regulations, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) said in its "white paper” on the social network.
About 360,000 users in the U.A.E. write about 2.5 million tweets each day, said the TRA, which has published reports on Facebook and other popular social-networking sites to promote awareness about their usage in the country.
"The laws of the U.A.E. prohibit the publication of content which is contrary to public morals, the principles of Islam and the social and moral welfare of the U.A.E., or any content that contains irreverence towards Islam and any other heavenly religions,” the report said.
"The content must also respect the U.A.E. Government, its leadership, political institutions and ultimately the U.A.E.'s cultural heritage and social norms and customs.”
Also prohibited are threats of violence, as well as hate speech, threatening or graphic content that contains gratuitous violence, or any content that is offensive "for a nation or its government”, according to the report.
Users must not publish other people's private information or photos and videos on Twitter without their consent, as is the case with other social networks such as Facebook, the TRA said.
A man faced charges in June for posting on Instagram a 15-second video of a sleeping family without consent.
Other reports are available as part of the U.A.E. Social Media White Papers for Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Gmail, Microsoft Outlook and other services.
Fifty-seven per cent of internet users in the country use Twitter.
Source: The National