Fake scam accusations, invented reviews, smear videos, anonymous accounts and copied posts that spread faster than you can answer them. Since 2001, United Press has helped people and companies protect their names. Every case is handled in strict confidence.
It usually starts with a message from a friend: “Have you seen what they are saying about you?”
Then you see it. A post calling you a fraud. A review describing things that never happened. A video that twists a private dispute into a public accusation. An account you have never heard of, repeating your name alongside words like scam, cheat or criminal. And every time you refresh, more people have seen it.
Online defamation is one of the most painful things that can happen to a professional reputation, because it attacks the one thing you cannot rebuild overnight: trust. In the UAE, where business moves on relationships, recommendations and family name, a single false post can lose you a client, a tenancy, a partnership or a job offer before you even know it exists. Your children may see it. Your parents may be asked about it. Your team may start to wonder.
If that is where you are today, please know two things. First, you are not powerless. The UAE has some of the strongest laws against online defamation in the world, and every major platform has rules against false and harassing content. Second, the way you respond in the next few days matters enormously. Acting calmly, collecting the right evidence and choosing the right route can turn a frightening situation into one that is quietly resolved.
This guide explains the best way to deal with online defamation in the UAE in 2026: how to tell defamation from criticism, how to report content on each platform, what UAE law says, how the time limits work, how the UK compares, what to do about anonymous accounts, and how to make sure accurate information about you rises above anything that stays online.
We are a PR and reputation firm, not a law firm. Where legal steps are needed, we work alongside qualified lawyers.
Not every negative post is defamation. Platforms, publishers and courts all draw a line between false statements that damage reputation and honest opinion, fair criticism or genuine experience. Knowing which side of the line a post falls on tells you which route will work.
UAE law is stricter than many countries. Courts have held that a belief that a statement is true is not always a complete defence, and insulting language can be an offence even when some facts are accurate. Abu Dhabi courts have also distinguished permissible criticism from defamation by looking at the publisher’s intent. A qualified lawyer can tell you where a specific post falls.
Online defamation takes many forms. Some are obvious, others are carefully disguised as reviews, news or concern. Recognising the type helps you choose the fastest route.
Posts and pages claiming a business steals from customers or runs a scam, often from people who never dealt with it. These are among the most damaging claims in the UAE market and among the strongest cases for removal.
Reviews describing visits, treatments or purchases that never happened, written by competitors, former staff or people with a grudge. Most review platforms prohibit them.
Pages set up to rank for your name and tell a false story. They can often be removed through the host or registrar, or pushed down with stronger, accurate pages.
Short clips cut to change the meaning of what someone said, shared on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and X. Platforms act on manipulated content, harassment and privacy breaches.
Fake profiles using your name, logo or photographs to post offensive content or mislead your customers. Impersonation breaks the rules of every major platform.
Accusations passed from group to group, sometimes with screenshots or voice notes. UAE courts treat WhatsApp as an information network, so the law can apply.
Anonymous threads that mix rumour, private details and false claims. Moderators and platform safety teams remove posts that break community rules.
Sites that invite anonymous complaints and rank them for business names. Some remove content on request, others refuse as policy, in which case suppression is the answer.
Posts revealing home addresses, phone numbers, family members or private photographs. These breach platform rules, Google’s personal information policies and UAE privacy law.
Every platform has its own rules and its own reporting routes. A report that cites the right policy, with clear evidence, is far more likely to succeed than a general complaint. These are the routes we use most for clients in the UAE.
Google has a legal removal process for defamation, and it acts on court orders naming specific URLs. Its personal information tools cover contact details and doxxing.
Reviews from non-customers, competitors, conflicts of interest and off-topic attacks break Google’s policies. See removing Google reviews in the UAE.
Harassment, false information about individuals, impersonation and privacy breaches can be reported. See Instagram reputation management.
TikTok removes harassment, bullying, impersonation and content that shares private information. See TikTok post removal.
Meta has a dedicated defamation reporting route as well as its community standards. See Facebook group post removal.
X acts on impersonation, targeted harassment, private information and valid legal requests from the affected person.
YouTube has a legal complaints form for defamation, plus privacy complaints for videos that identify you without consent.
False professional claims, harassment and fake profiles break LinkedIn’s policies. See LinkedIn reputation management.
Moderators and platform safety teams remove doxxing, harassment and posts that break subreddit rules. See Reddit reputation management.
Reviews naming junior staff, revealing confidential information or written under pressure can be flagged. See removing Glassdoor reviews in the UAE.
Site owners, hosting companies and domain registrars can act on formal notices, especially where content is unlawful or breaches their terms.
Editors can correct, update or remove inaccurate articles. See our guide to removing negative news articles in the UAE.
The UAE treats online defamation as a serious matter. Insulting or falsely accusing someone on social media, in a WhatsApp group, in a review or on a website can lead to criminal penalties, court-ordered removal and civil claims for compensation. That gives people who are targeted real leverage, as long as the right law is matched to the right facts.
Two points often surprise people. UAE courts have found that a person’s belief that their post was true did not clear them, and the Dubai Court of Cassation has said that publicity is not an essential element of the online offence, so a message in a private WhatsApp group can still be caught. The flip side is that people who respond to defamation with their own insults can also find themselves on the wrong side of the law.

Insulting someone or attributing to them something that exposes them to punishment or contempt, using an information network or technology. Penalties include fines from AED 250,000 to AED 500,000 and/or imprisonment.
Publishing photographs, private or family information, or recordings of a person without consent, even where the information is true.
Spreading false information or rumours online, with heavier treatment in certain circumstances.
Statements that damage a person’s honour or reputation, with heavier treatment where they are published.
For offences such as defamation, a complaint generally needs to be made within three months of the victim learning of the offence and its author.
People harmed by defamation can pursue civil claims for moral and material harm. Civil claims generally have a longer time limit, commonly three years from learning of the harm.
Summaries for general information only, not legal advice. A qualified UAE lawyer should review your specific case.
Enter the date you first saw the post. We will show the date three months later, which is the usual limit for a criminal defamation complaint in the UAE, and how many days are left.
—
Enter a date to see your deadline.
This is a guide only. How the time limit is counted can depend on when you learned who posted the content. Please confirm with a qualified lawyer, and speak to us as early as you can.
Many of our clients live, work or do business in both countries. The two systems approach defamation very differently, and the best route can depend on where the content was published, where you live and where the harm is felt.
| Question | United Arab Emirates | United Kingdom (England and Wales) |
|---|---|---|
| Is it a crime? | Yes. Defamation and insult are criminal offences, including online under the cybercrime law. | No. Defamation is a civil matter. Harassment and malicious communications can be criminal. |
| Main laws | Decree-Law 34/2021 (cybercrime), Decree-Law 31/2021 (Penal Code), Civil Transactions Law | Defamation Act 2013, common law, Protection from Harassment Act 1997 |
| Harm threshold | Insulting or accusing language can be enough, even in a private group. | The statement must have caused, or be likely to cause, serious harm. For businesses, serious financial loss. |
| Truth | Not always a complete defence, especially for insults and privacy breaches. | Truth is a full defence if the statement is substantially true. |
| Time limit | Usually three months for a criminal complaint. Civil claims commonly three years. | Usually one year from publication. |
| Anonymous posters | Police and public prosecution can investigate and identify account holders. | Courts can order platforms to disclose identity through a Norwich Pharmacal order. |
| Removal orders | Courts can order content to be removed as part of a judgment. | Courts can order a website operator to remove a statement found defamatory (section 13). |
| Website operators | Operators who fail to remove illegal content once aware of it can face liability. | Operators have a defence under section 5 if they follow the notice process for anonymous posters. |
For people in the UK or the EU, data protection law also allows requests to delist search results about you that are inaccurate or out of date. Because the UK is one of our priority markets, we often combine UAE and UK routes in a single plan.
This is the process we follow for clients in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and around the world. Each step builds on the one before, and several run side by side.
Save screenshots showing the date, time, account name and full URL. Record video of stories and live content before it expires. Keep copies of shares, comments and messages that repeat the claim.
Search your name and business in English and Arabic, check social platforms, forums, review sites and AI answers. Defamation rarely stays in one place, and copies often do more damage than the original.
Decide which posts break platform policies, which are likely unlawful and which are genuine criticism. This tells you where a report will succeed and where a legal step or a public response is better.
File reports under the exact policy that applies, with evidence attached. For websites, send formal notices to the site owner, host or registrar. Follow up once, clearly and politely.
Where content is clearly unlawful, a qualified lawyer can file a complaint, send a legal notice or seek a court order. Court orders naming specific URLs are the strongest removal request you can make to Google and platforms.
Publish accurate, authoritative coverage in respected publications, strengthen your own profiles and keep watch for new posts, so the truth is what appears when anyone searches your name.
Evidence is the foundation of every successful removal. Platforms, hosts, lawyers and police all need to see exactly what was posted, where, when and by whom. Posts are often edited or deleted once the author realises they may face consequences, so collect everything now, even if you are not sure you will use it.
Keep your evidence in one secure folder, and do not share it publicly. If you are unsure whether something is relevant, keep it anyway. If the post is in Arabic, save the original wording as well as any translation, because the exact words matter in UAE proceedings.

Many defamation campaigns come from accounts that hide behind a made-up name or a stolen photograph. Anonymity makes things harder, but it rarely makes them impossible.
Fake and impersonation accounts break the rules of every major platform. Reports that show the account is not genuine, or is pretending to be someone else, often lead to the whole account being removed, not just one post.
In the UAE, police and the public prosecution can investigate online offences and request account information. In the UK, courts can order platforms to reveal who is behind an account. A lawyer can advise which applies to you.
Writing style, posting times, shared images and links to a known dispute often point to the person behind a campaign. We document these patterns so your lawyer and the platforms can see the full picture.
Many defamation campaigns come from a former employee, business partner, supplier or relative. In these cases there may be routes beyond platforms and criminal law. An employment contract, shareholder agreement, settlement or confidentiality clause may already prohibit what they are doing, and a lawyer’s letter that points to that obligation can end a campaign quickly and quietly.
It is also worth thinking about what the other person wants. Some want an apology, some want a dispute resolved, and some simply want attention. Understanding the motive helps choose between a firm legal approach, a private resolution and a steady focus on rebuilding your search results. We help you think this through before any step is taken, so you do not make a difficult situation harder.
Some content will stay online, at least for a while. A website may be hosted in a country that ignores notices. A platform may decide a post is opinion. A legal case may take months. None of that means the post has to be the first thing people see.
Google ranks pages partly on the trust it places in the sites that host them. Genuine features, interviews and expert articles in respected publications carry that trust, and they tend to outrank anonymous blogs, forum threads and throwaway accounts. When the first page of results for your name is filled with accurate, authoritative coverage, a defamatory post loses most of its power. A strong first page also protects you against future attacks, because it is much harder for any single new post to break into it.
We never use fake reviews, fake profiles or spam links, which break Google’s rules and can make matters worse. Every placement is real editorial coverage, named to you in writing before anything starts. Our reputation management in the UAE service brings removal, legal coordination and coverage together in one plan.

Domain Authority (DA) and Domain Rating (DR) as listed by Ascend.
We also place clients in UK and international publications, which matters when the defamation reaches a global audience. See get published in UAE media and get published in Middle East media.
When someone lies about you in public, the instinct is to hit back. In the UAE in particular, that instinct can turn you from the victim into a defendant.
Abusive replies, public or private, can themselves be offences under UAE law, and they give the other side something to report.
Accusing someone publicly of being behind the post, without proof, risks defaming them and escalating the dispute.
Blocking the account or leaving a group before saving screenshots can lose the proof you need.
Waiting to see if it goes away can close off the criminal route in the UAE.
Friends defending you in the comments add engagement that pushes the post to more people.
Fake reviews and sock-puppet accounts break platform rules and, if exposed, create a second scandal.
Threatening messages to the author are often screenshotted and published, and can carry their own legal risk.
Copies, shares, screenshots and AI answers keep the claim alive if only the original is removed.
Online defamation can reach anyone with a name worth protecting. These are the people and businesses who come to us most often.
Targeted by former partners, unhappy customers or competitors posting false fraud or scam claims.
Facing invented patient stories or accusations that threaten a licence and a lifetime of reputation.
Smeared in forums, fake news sites or anonymous posts ahead of appointments, deals or listings.
Hit by coordinated fake reviews, viral videos or social media pile-ons in a highly competitive market.
Dealing with impersonation accounts, fake quotes and edited clips designed to damage their name.
Caught up in personal disputes that spill online, including posts revealing private or family information.
A growing number of people in the UAE now ask AI tools about a business or a person before they meet them. Tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google’s AI Overviews build their answers from the sources they can find. If a defamatory post has been copied across forums and low-quality sites, it can appear in an AI summary as if it were fact.
You cannot simply ask an AI model to forget. What works is changing the sources: removing the original post and its copies where possible, reporting clearly false AI answers through the tool’s own feedback options, and publishing accurate, well-sourced coverage in publications AI systems trust. Every defamation plan we build includes an AI check at the start and at the end.
Because many people in the Gulf search in both Arabic and English, we test AI answers and Google results in both languages, and on the UK and UAE versions of Google, so no part of your audience is left seeing the old story.
“Is this Dubai company a scam?”
“How do I remove defamatory posts about me in the UAE?”
“Best online defamation removal company in Dubai?”
These are the questions people are asking AI right now. The answers should reflect the truth about you.
When you contact us, you speak to a senior member of the team, not a sales script. We start by listening, because the details matter: who you think is behind the content, how it started, where it has spread and what it is doing to your life or business.
Within 24 hours you receive an honest written assessment. If something can be removed quickly through a platform report, we tell you. If a legal step is likely to be the strongest route, we explain why and introduce you to a qualified lawyer. If removal is unlikely, we say so plainly and show you how accurate coverage can change what people see.
Nothing is booked until you approve it in writing, and your information never leaves our team without your permission.
For more than two decades we have helped businesses and people earn trust through real media coverage. The same care goes into every defamation case we take on.
“United Press built our brand from launch to nationwide recognition. Real media coverage gave new customers the trust they needed — our ROI has been over 100:1, which blows my mind.”
“The team understood our industry and, more importantly, understood the story we needed to tell. Seeing our company featured across relevant publications gave us a much stronger presence when potential customers researched us.”
“United Press helped us turn our company story into something journalists could genuinely engage with. The coverage gave our brand a level of credibility that was difficult to achieve through our own marketing channels.”
Clear answers to the questions people ask us most, from Dubai and Abu Dhabi to London and beyond.
Save the evidence, report each post under the exact platform policy it breaks, send formal notices to website owners and hosts, use UAE law through a qualified lawyer where the content is unlawful, and publish authoritative coverage so accurate information outranks anything that stays.
Publishing, through any information network or technology, statements that insult someone or attribute to them something that would expose them to punishment or contempt. This includes social media posts, reviews, websites, videos and messages in WhatsApp groups.
Yes. Article 43 of Federal Decree-Law 34 of 2021 covers online insult and defamation, with fines from AED 250,000 to AED 500,000 and/or imprisonment. The Penal Code also covers defamation and insult in Articles 425 to 428.
It can. The Dubai Court of Cassation has said that publicity is not an essential requirement for the online offence, and that WhatsApp counts as an information network. Messages in private or group chats can therefore be caught.
Not always. UAE courts have held that a genuine belief that a statement was true did not clear the person who posted it, and privacy law can apply even where information is true. In the UK, by contrast, substantial truth is a full defence.
A criminal complaint generally needs to be made within three months of learning about the offence and who committed it. Civil claims for compensation commonly have a longer limit of three years. Use our time limit checker above and confirm with a lawyer.
Complaints can be made through channels such as Dubai Police eCrime, Abu Dhabi Police’s Aman service or the Public Prosecution. We recommend preparing your evidence with a qualified lawyer first.
Yes. UAE courts have ordered the removal of defamatory posts as part of a judgment, as in the Instagram hospital case, Cassation 55/2023. A court order naming specific URLs is also the strongest request you can make to Google and platforms.
Yes. Under the UAE Civil Transactions Law, people harmed by defamation can pursue civil claims for moral and material harm, often alongside or after a criminal case. A lawyer can advise on the evidence needed.
Often, yes, when the post clearly breaks their rules, for example harassment, impersonation, private information or fake accounts. For content that is only defamatory under local law, platforms may need a legal request or a court order.
Report the post, story or account under the rule it breaks, such as harassment, false information about you, impersonation or privacy. Keep screenshots and the URL. Meta also has a legal reporting route for defamation.
Report the video for harassment, bullying, impersonation or sharing private information, and include clear evidence. Our TikTok post removal guide explains the process in detail.
Google usually needs the content removed at the source, a valid legal request or a court order. Once the page is removed or changed, use Google’s Refresh outdated content tool to update the search result.
Yes, when they break Google’s policies, for example reviews from non-customers, competitors or conflicts of interest. See our guide to removing Google reviews in the UAE.
We contact the site owner, the hosting company and the domain registrar with formal notices. Many act when content breaches their terms. Where they do not, search suppression and legal routes in the relevant country can help.
In the UAE, police and the public prosecution can investigate online offences and request account information. In the UK, courts can order platforms to disclose identity. We also document patterns that point to the person behind a campaign.
Usually not in public, and never with insults or threats. Replies can escalate the dispute and may themselves breach UAE law. A calm, formal approach through the right channel is far more effective.
Honest reviews of real experiences are generally treated differently from false accusations and insults, but UAE law is strict. Posts using insulting language or making unproven claims of crime or fraud carry real legal risk.
In the UK, defamation is a civil matter under the Defamation Act 2013. The claimant must show serious harm, truth is a full defence and the usual time limit is one year from publication.
Possibly, depending on where you live, where the content was published and where your reputation was harmed. We coordinate with lawyers in both countries to find the strongest route.
Each copy, share and screenshot needs its own removal plan. We map every instance, prioritise the most visible ones and track new copies as they appear.
AI tools build answers from their sources. Removing the original and its copies, reporting false answers and publishing accurate coverage in trusted publications changes what those tools say over time.
Clear platform violations can be removed within days. Host notices can take weeks, and legal routes can take months. Search suppression usually shows progress within two to three months.
No honest firm can guarantee what a platform, host or court will decide. What we promise is a clear assessment, every legitimate route pursued properly and a plan to make sure the truth is what people find.
Never. Fake content breaks platform rules, can breach the law and usually makes the situation worse when exposed. We use real platform processes, legal routes and genuine editorial coverage.
Yes. Every case is handled in strict confidence from the first message, and we only share information with lawyers or platforms when you agree.
No. United Press is a PR and reputation firm. We handle evidence, platform reports, host notices and coverage, and we work alongside qualified lawyers in the UAE and the UK when legal steps are needed.
Yes. We help founders, professionals, executives, families and businesses of every size, in the UAE and internationally.
We have worked with publishers and platforms since 2001, we are honest about what can be removed, we never use fake content, and we combine removal, legal coordination and real editorial coverage in one confidential plan.
Fill in the short form below with links to the content and a few lines about what happened. Within 24 hours you receive a free, honest case review and a clear plan. Nothing is booked until you approve it in writing.
You did not choose to be the target of lies. You did not ask for strangers to judge you on something that never happened. But you do get to choose what happens next, and you do not have to face it alone.
Think about the people who know the real you: the clients you have served well, the colleagues who trust you, the family who have watched you build something from nothing. They deserve to see the truth when they search your name, and so does everyone who has not met you yet.
Imagine opening Google next month and finding only the truth about you.
Send us the links on the short form. Within 24 hours you will receive a free, honest review of your case, what can realistically be removed and the best plan to protect your name. Everything stays confidential, and nothing is booked until you say yes.
United Press · Brook’s Mews, Bond Street, London · Working in PR since 2001 · Clients in the UAE and every country