Dubai (AFP)
With ultramodern infrastructures and hyper connected services, the United Arab Emirates aspire to technological power but the controversy surrounding a messaging application has highlighted the tight control of the internet in the country.
As part of the "Vision 2021" project, the Emirates - which have invested billions in new technologies - aim to "become a pioneer in the provision of intelligent services" via "advanced telecommunications infrastructure".
Dubai, the smartest city in the Middle East according to the Smart City Observatory ranking, hosts the regional offices of internet giants, such as Google and Twitter, and most public services are accessible via smartphones.
The posters of the 2020 Universal Exhibition that the emirate is hosting from October onwards show off robots and astronauts.
But for millions of expatriates, calling relatives who have stayed in the country on WhatsApp or Skype is not so simple: free communications via the internet are blocked in the Emirates.
"To be able to call my family via WhatsApp, I go to buy this card every month" in a working-class district, says a Pakistani worker, showing a coupon containing an access code to a virtual private network (VPN) which allows to bypass the restrictions .
To avoid this method, the legality of which remains unclear in the Emirates, others choose to communicate via ToTok, a messaging application whose developers are based in Abu Dhabi.
"I use ToTok because it is the only platform where video calls work properly here," said an Egyptian worker who regularly contacts his wife and daughters who have stayed behind.
- "Chinese model" -
ToTok quickly won over a large audience in the Middle East. But in December, the New York Times accused the UAE intelligence services of having direct access to user data.
In the midst of controversy, Google and Apple had removed ToTok from their application store but the first reinstated it in January, with an "update" of the authorization mechanisms for access to user data.
Specialist in "technological threats to internet freedom", Bill Marczak analyzes this difference by the fact that "Apple is considered to be perhaps a little more respectful of the privacy" of its customers.
For this researcher at the Citizen Lab and at the University of Berkeley in California, ToTok is a "unique case", although intelligence services have already exploited digital platforms in the past but in a discreet and targeted manner.
Conversely, the creators of ToTok "tried to develop this application for it to be used by millions of people", especially in the United States, where it was starting to become "popular".
"It will be interesting to see how this public fiasco will affect the development of the Emirates as a technological power," said Bill Marczak to AFP.
According to him, the country is moving towards the "Chinese model", between desire for power and attachment to the surveillance of Internet users, which risks undermining their "confidence" in locally developed platforms.
Questioned by AFP, the Emirati telecommunications regulatory authority said "to have recently become aware of these concerns" but denied the accusations.
The regulations in force "prohibit illegal interception and mass surveillance in any form whatsoever", wrote in an e-mail the public body.
- "Not free" -
Like China, the Emirates are classified in the category of countries with the internet "not free" by the American NGO Freedom House which questions "restrictions, censorship and surveillance" on the internet and the "close links between government and telecommunications companies. "
"The Emirates have a high level of restrictions and online surveillance," said Freedom House coordinator Amy Slipowitz.
The country should, she said, "be more transparent about restricting content and stop targeting government criticism" on the internet.
The law, in this country endowed with ministries of Tolerance and Happiness, prohibits the use of the Internet to "call for demonstrations", "to encourage conversion to a religion other than Islam" or "to promote destructive principles such as homosexuality ".
In a region shaken by political unrest, especially since the Arab Spring of 2011, the Emirates, like Saudi Arabia, advocate a discourse of "stability", often described by analysts as "anti-revolutionary".
In 2018, the famous Emirati opponent Ahmed Mansoor was sentenced to 10 years in prison for criticizing the government and tarnishing the image of his country on social networks.
© 2020 AFP