A large proportion of Arab citizens use virtual private networks (VPNs) to circumvent restrictions on internet usage and overcome bandwidth limitations.
According to Atlas VPN research, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has the highest VPN download rate in the world, with 4.27 million downloads made in the UAE, equivalent to 43% of the total population.
Several websites and services that violate Islamic moral norms are banned in the UAE, including WhatsApp, Skype, FaceTime, and Facebook Messenger. People are also forbidden to criticize the government.
Four of the five nations with the highest VPN adoption per population were Arab countries, according to Atlas VPN's VPN Adoption Index.
Qatar had 2.88 million downloads, equal to just over 39% of its population; Saudi Arabia had 9 million downloads, equivalent to 27% of its population; and Oman had 1.5 million downloads.
Atlas VPN wrote: "Arab nations are governed by hereditary rulers who wield the majority of administrative, legislative, and judicial power. Both citizens and non-citizens have very limited civil rights.".
According to Atlas VPN, people in Arab countries use VPNs to access restricted content and to increase their freedom of expression to overcome some of these limitations.
Among the penalties imposed by UAE Cyber Law are temporary imprisonment and a fine of not less than AED 500,000 and not more than AED 2,000,000, or either of these two penalties, if a fraudulent computer network protocol address is used to commit a crime or prevent its discovery by using a false address or a third-party address.
However, the region's increased use of VPNs is not only the result of gamers seeking to overcome bandwidth limits and connect with people in other regions while circumventing online restrictions.
According to the Atlas VPN blog, gamers in the Gulf use VPNs to change their IP address so they can be matched with players outside of their region and to avoid bandwidth throttling. VPNs are also critical for streamers to prevent DDoS attacks.
"Gaming and streaming have become leading motivations for VPN use, particularly as some countries reform and modernize," said Irina Tsukerman, a human rights lawyer and national security and geopolitical analyst specializing in MENA and information warfare. A huge gaming industry has developed in the Middle East, particularly in the Gulf."
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