This TikToker In Dubai Has Been Arrested For Joking About Cars And Is Facing Up To Five Years In Prison
Authorities said Hamdan Al Rind showed disrespect and a lack of appreciation of money, which promote a “false image” of the country’s citizens.
Emirati authorities have ordered police to arrest a TikTok influencer for making jokes about cars that authorities say “promote a disrespectful image of the country.”
In 2022, Emirati authorities passed a cybercrime law that can criminalize political opposition and content that harms the United Arab Emirates’ public image.
Hamdan Al Rind, an Asian resident in the UAE, has gained more than four million followers across TikTok and Instagram for his car reviews, lessons and jokes.
In one video, Al Rind enters a luxury car dealership followed by two people, who are carrying a load of cash.
Al Rind then pretends he wants to buy a luxury car in an “arrogant” manner and distributes cash among the workers at the dealership.
On July 9, Dubai authorities announced they were going to arrest Al Rind for sharing “provocative advertisements that can stir public opinion and cause harm to public interest”.
Authorities said he was showing disrespect and a lack of appreciation for money.
“Such actions contribute to promoting a false and derogatory mental image of the country’s citizens,” the UAE’s prosecution office wrote on Instagram.
Al Rind also faces charges of creating videos that do not “adhere to media content standards”.
“He came in, he wanted to shoot a video, I said ‘yes.’ If it didn’t happen in my showroom, it probably would have happened somewhere else,” the owner of the car dealership in the video, Ahmed Mansour, said, according to AP.
“I thought he understood the law,” he added.
