How the UAE Is Curating the Soul of the Internet
By Hafsa Qadeer
In the land where oral tradition once passed from lips by firelight, the stories have found new stages, glowing screens, social feeds, and streaming platforms. Yet the soul remains unchanged. Welcome to the UAE’s newest creative frontier: a cultural renaissance that’s not confined to books or galleries, but one that unfolds in pixels, podcasts, and poetic hashtags. This is not entertainment for entertainment’s sake. This is a nation telling its story its own way, digitally native, deeply rooted.
The Rise of Neo-Majlis Media
There’s a new kind of majlis emerging, not built from cushions and incense, but from comment threads and camera lenses. Young Emiratis gather not only in salons but in live streams and Twitter Spaces, where ideas swirl like cardamom in coffee. The UAE’s creators aren’t just making content, they’re reviving form. TikTok poets deliver verses in Khaleeji dialects. Filmmakers shoot on iPhones but edit like calligraphers. Even meme pages carry the cadence of folklore. In a world scrolling faster than thought, the UAE’s digital creatives offer something rare: reflection.
Streaming the Story of Us
What do you get when heritage meets high definition? A wave of Emirati-led productions that bring history, humor, and humanity to global screens. From period dramas set in pearl-diving villages to futuristic thrillers echoing climate anxieties, local storytelling is finding its stride. Abu Dhabi’s twofour54 and Dubai Studio City are no longer just infrastructure; they are incubators of identity. Actors trained in theater now voice characters in virtual reality. Scriptwriters consult historians before algorithms. Even gaming studios are embedding falconry, desert lore, and ghaf tree symbolism into open-world maps. This isn’t escapism. This is digital memory-making.
Podcasts as the New Poetry
Scroll through the UAE’s audio landscape and you’ll find voices that sound like home. Podcasts have become modern-day diwans, spaces where thinkers, artists, and comedians explore the stories beneath the skyline. One week, it’s a deep dive into Nabati verse, the next, a conversation on mental health in Arabic. These shows are archived emotion, a way for culture to breathe in earbuds and across borders. And in a region where silence often cloaks vulnerability, these conversations are a reclamation of voice.
Influence with Intention
In an era where virality is often mistaken for value, Emirati influencers are redefining what it means to “go viral.” Many use their platforms not for trend-chasing, but for trend-setting, promoting sustainability, preserving dialects, and spotlighting local artisans. A beauty vlogger ends every tutorial with a dua. A travel influencer maps spiritual landmarks instead of just brunch spots. Even comedy sketches incorporate old proverbs, the laughter is always followed by a lesson.
Digital Isn’t Disposable, It’s Archival
Where some nations fear the digitization of culture, the UAE embraces it, with caution and care. AI is used not only to enhance content, but to preserve endangered dialects and catalog oral histories. The Ministry of Culture funds initiatives that turn family recipes into interactive apps and folk dances into motion-captured experiences. It’s not about nostalgia. It’s about ensuring that the future knows where it came from.
A Soft Power, Strongly Felt
The UAE understands that storytelling is powerful. Not the loud, flashy kind, but the soft power of nuance and identity. And by fusing tradition with technology, it’s creating a cultural model few nations can replicate. In the age of attention, this country has chosen intention. And perhaps that is the UAE’s greatest plot twist of all: That in a world of filters and feeds, its truest influence lies not in the content it creates, but in the meaning it preserves.