A UAE Official Warns of Attempts to Escalate Regional Tensions After Observing Over 11,000 Bots in One Month

A senior UAE official has warned that social media bots are being used to stoke tensions between countries in the region, and that more than 11,000 new bots were generated in October 2026 alone. He defined the figure as ‘a large quantity, a huge number’.

At the UAE Correspondents’ Majlis in Dubai, Abdulla bin Mohammed bin Butti Al Hamed, Chairman of the National Media Authority (NMA), warned that authorities were monitoring the use of bots to amplify content and worsen relations between countries.

“Everybody knows there is a lot of fake news, lots of bots being used on the social media platforms,” he stated. Al Hamed said UAE officials have been collaborating with social media companies to eliminate bots and other dangerous online activity, and much of the work has gone largely unnoticed. “Behind the scenes, we’re working to do that,” he said.

He said authorities have been watching social media sites for a long time and these efforts were continued as new bots and deceptive content arose. More than 100 social media accounts have been suspended in recent months for uploading content that incited violence during the Iranian attacks, a month earlier, said Al Hamed. At the Gulf Influencers event in April, he said the accounts had breached a Gulf code of conduct on online activity. He said the accounts weren’t linked to any one country.

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