Gulf States Intensify Social Media Crackdown: Implications for Digital Societies

Gulf states in the Middle East are intensifying crackdowns on social media posts, citing national security concerns, following the outbreak of the US-Israel-Iran conflict. Bahrain and Kuwait have seen journalists and ordinary citizens arrested, prosecuted, stripped of nationality, or deported. For Vietnam, a one-party state, similar challenges regarding freedom of expression exist, and these cases in the Gulf offer significant implications for balancing free speech and national security in digital societies.