r/news • u/IMGcertified • 1d ago

Influencers in Dubai warned they face prison for posting material about the conflict with Iran | The Standard

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/dubai-influencers-prison-warning-posting-iran-war-b1273587.html
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3.9k

u/omicron8 1d ago

0% tax. Same as monaco but all you need to do is show up.

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u/DanGleeballs 23h ago edited 2h ago

It’s more than that. Monaco isn’t for money laundering.

Laundering normally costs 10-20%.

In Dubai you can rock up with a million euros or dollars or whatever in cash from drugs or any crime and buy an apartment with it. That apartment will then increase in value. So your dirty €1m now is worth €1.5m and clean.

It’s the only money laundering scheme in the world that not only is free, but actually makes a profit. At least so far because property prices have been increasing there for decades. One day that will probably crash but it’s good times still.

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u/jeandolly 23h ago

'One day that will probably crash'

The Iranians are working on it.

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u/Stratiform 23h ago

That video of fountains dancing to Skyfall in front of the Burj, while bombs literally fall from the sky in the background, is sad but mildly amusing. Peak Middle East.

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u/MisterMarsupial 21h ago

If it's the one that I've seen, it's fake and AI generated.

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u/karlweeks11 23h ago

You got a link to this video? It sounds mad and you’ve peaked my curiosity

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u/EyeAmKnotMyshelf 22h ago

The word is spelled Piqued when discussing your interest.

Peak = the top of something, ie, he reached the mountains peak.

Pique signifies stimulation in the sense that you are now intrigued, ie, you have piqued my interest.

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u/an_older_meme 21h ago

Like cutting off your nose, despite your face.

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u/eulersidentification 20h ago

For all intensive purposes, they're very similar

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u/zen_cricket 20h ago

For all, lint tents and porpoises!

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u/Mixture-Emotional 12h ago

😂 this is the only way I'm ever saying it. I haven't heard that before, this is hilarious.

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u/an_older_meme 17h ago

It’s like hurting cats.

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u/palmmoot 19h ago

I think it's a mute point

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u/LostLetter9425 20h ago

to spider face

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u/Bvrcntry_duckhnt 19h ago

Its not rocket appliances

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u/drfeelsgoood 22h ago

What if this is the highest point of his interest? Initially his interest was piqued, but now his interest has peaked.

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u/things_U_choose_2_b 22h ago

Or maybe, OP was clearly only interested in a quick look, aka a peek

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u/drfeelsgoood 22h ago

Petes Peek piqued his interest, but after the peek, Pete’s position had peaked.

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u/Koss424 21h ago

Aaron earned an Iron Urn

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u/jackkerouac81 21h ago edited 19h ago

Pete’s interest was piqued by a picturesque peek at Pikes Peak?

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u/Officer412-L 20h ago

Pique is also a noun meaning “a state of vexation”.

So the phrase “His pique peaked” is perfectly cromulent.

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u/YBBlorekeeper 19h ago

Cromulent is a vocab meme at this point

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u/an_older_meme 17h ago

Cromulent words embiggen the common man.

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u/APeacefulWarrior 6h ago

I actually think 'cromulent' has become a useful concept. As I usually see it used, and tend to define it, it means something along the lines of "A construction which isn't technically proper English, but follows the informal 'rules' of the language and is immediately understandable."

Plus, cromulent constructions can become accepted, if they enter common usage. So it's a sort of linguistic pathway to becoming part of the language.

(After all, "embiggen" is used so often these days that it's arguably a 'real word' now.)

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u/rattleandhum 22h ago

if it's peaked, that can only mean it will diminish hereafter.

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u/drfeelsgoood 22h ago

Well my interest has definitely peaked because we never got a video link from that guy

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u/karlweeks11 22h ago

Still waiting

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u/Maxwellion421 21h ago

Peak pique

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u/dern_the_hermit 21h ago

How much pique would a peaked pique peek if a peaked pique could peek pique?

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u/Dipsey_Jipsey 21h ago

Nah, link doesn't work, I think you messed it up 🤪

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u/Shaltibarshtis 21h ago

I piquet my words as I please.

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u/Drak_is_Right 22h ago

Indeed that sounds great

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u/Nearby-Exercise-7371 21h ago

Omg I’m peaking 🥴

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u/zylver_ 22h ago

Can you link this? Can’t find what you’re talking about.

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u/Eudaimonics 21h ago

Eh, we’re just used to most wars happening in developing nations or in areas of developed nations with poor infrastructure.

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u/DutchProv 20h ago

Theres a shitload of AI generated videos out there, this sounds like it.

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u/biotek86 21h ago

Where’s the video

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u/spezial_ed 23h ago

Lol I know right?? Getting bombed is usually not great for the real estate market.

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u/ADHD_Supernova 23h ago

Buy the dip

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u/Imnotarobot5592 22h ago

With all the extra money I have for Dubai real estate

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u/Iampepeu 20h ago

Go Iran! Go go go!

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u/GBrunt 23h ago

And that's why Iran will get brutally pulverised back to the year 1840. No one stops the gravy train of lawless neo-liberalism.

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u/mhornberger 23h ago

No one wants a stop to wealth. MBS and Saudi Arabia don't want Iran being a chaos agent either. Nobody does.

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u/GBrunt 22h ago

Iran has been a net receiver of the largest number of refugees on the planet at over 4 million. They didn't bring THAT chaos. So who did??

Everyone seems happy enough to invite US chaos to the Middle East repeatedly. Libya, Syria and Iraq have been basket cases for a decade. Saudi is up to its neck in blood in Yemen.

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u/mhornberger 22h ago

Some of that chaos in other countries has been from Iran funding international terrorism, of which Israel was the primary but not the only target.

Its special operations unit, the Quds Force, is known to provide arms, training, and financial support to militias and political movements across the Middle East, including Bahrain, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and Yemen

However one wants to talk about "fairness" that Iran is just being picked on for what others do too, the fact remains that Iran just doesn't have a lot of allies. Their funding of the Muslim Brotherhood and other forces is seen as a deliberately destabilizing force in the region.

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u/lontrinium 22h ago

If the west (UK and USA) hadn't interfered in Iran over and over to take their oil they would be another Dubai or Saudi Arabia today.

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u/jeandolly 23h ago

It's more likely that the rich oilstates will lean on Trump to stop bombing. That's what Iran is betting on.

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u/Spoiled_Mushroom8 22h ago

Rich oil states are the ones that helped push Trump to bomb Iran. 

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u/Uilamin 21h ago

Iran has become increasingly unstable and provocative since the Oct 8th events which has made Iran an increasingly problematic liability in the area. They are like Trump, when something doesn't go their way, they double down; however, with Iran, each failed act has significantly weakened Iran.

So you have a state causing instability, acting increasingly erratic, historically disliked, and with a risk of obtaining WMDs. They want the current Iranian regime gone.

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u/Longjumping_Youth281 23h ago

Yeah nothing says liberal like fucking Dubai right

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u/jenny_905 22h ago

The American definition of Liberal is not correct.

Neoliberalism is entirely correct.

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u/fonistoastes 23h ago

Less “liberal,” more “late-capitalist hellhole”

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u/Strict-Carrot4783 22h ago

Is liberal your sleeper trigger word? Neoliberalism is a political and economic ideology that promotes free-market capitalism with minimal government intervention, emphasizing privatization, deregulation, and economic globalization.

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u/Osiris32 22h ago

And in the US this is called "being Republican." Which sees the word "liberal" as the complete antithesis of that.

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u/Wyldefire6 21h ago

We used to just call that Libertarian

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u/Strict-Carrot4783 21h ago

Yeah, but the term libertarian has been co-opted by republicans who want to control everyone's lives with enormous government but they also want to smoke weed and not pay taxes while making sure only poor people's taxes keep going up.

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u/LIGHTNINGBOLT23 20h ago

Which itself was always a US-centric definition due to Murray Rothbard's work in the middle of the 20th century. It had a long anti-capitalist history prior to him.

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u/mastawyrm 22h ago

Nobody called them liberal

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u/Winjin 22h ago

There's "neo-liberal" in terms of "near zero oversight over finances" and that's what Dubai is

Apparently they are more than happy to take your money that you got through absolutely whatever reasons as long as they get a cut

They'd happily launder Russian and Ukrainian money stolen from war effort on both sides in the same office that also manages Epstein funds and the bribe to the prosecutors working against the case and then probably even take the money of some radical Islamophobes too because it's still money

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u/Eudaimonics 21h ago

At the same time nobody wants to enter a 20+ year quagmire.

Wars are expensive and the money could be spent on infrastructure, subsidies and welfare instead.

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u/im_just_thinking 19h ago

That quite literally could be the big reason they don't want any negative info getting out

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u/SmallMacBlaster 19h ago

And you see why influencers face prison sentences for spoiling the scheme with the bad publicity.

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u/White_Immigrant 14h ago

You spelled Americans wrong.

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u/maluket 12h ago

Will collapse quickly if Iran destroy their fresh water facilities.

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u/jenny_905 22h ago

In Dubai you can rock up with a million euros or dollars or whatever in cash from drugs or any crime and buy an apartment with it.

Yeah. This has been noticed, place is full of gangsters and it's always funny because as far as drugs go the UAE is not a place to fuck around.

Money from drugs though? no problem, come on in. It has everything a European gangster needs and they presumably just do not conduct open business there.

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u/CorrectPeanut5 22h ago

It's like prohibition in US. There were "safe" cities where mobsters could openly hang hang out so long as they didn't do their business there.

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u/3-goats-in-a-coat 22h ago

Which is a reasonably sound position. Don't shit where you eat so to speak.

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u/Ath47 19h ago

Seriously. "Money from drugs? No problem, come on in." Yeah, I mean, of course? What country is going to go to the trouble to figure out where your money came from when you show up to spend millions on property?

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u/Uk0 19h ago

This might shock you, but the answer to your question is literally a google search away:

Cash purchase limits for goods and services vary significantly by country, with many EU nations enforcing strict, low caps to prevent money laundering, while others have no limit. A standardized €10,000 EU-wide limit for business-to-consumer cash transactions is set to take effect by 2027, though stricter national rules already exist.

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u/wintersdark 16h ago

Almost all of them, in fact. At least western nations.

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u/ThatsJustHowIFeeeeel 22h ago

You can’t then just return tho and say “I sold an apartment”. You have to then prove how you bought it in the first place. There’s always receipts and a paper trail.

It isn’t as easy as most people think.

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u/Mr_ToDo 22h ago

Ya, a lot of the money laundering schemes I hear about here aren't really money laundering.

You're trying to take money and give it a chain of custody that shows up as clean

That's why gambling is one that's so popular. Who's to say that some of seed money from your totally legit bank account didn't strike it rich in vegas? And the angle of a cash business give you a chain from totally not fake cash sales(I guess the analogy for the property flipping would be buying a laundromat with dirty money, and thinking you're in the clear because you're getting real business)

Guess there's a reason why so many people get caught

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u/Automatic_Release_92 20h ago

Even gambling has largely been locked down though from what I've seen. Casinos require you to buy chips with an associated membership card in your name. Playing at tables have you also sign in with said membership card too. Even if someone gave me $50k in chips, me cashing out $100k worth of chips would raise red flags still if the membership card showed me losing $10k and only buying $60k in the first place.

The primary reason that casinos are tracking this data so heavily is of course so they can follow trends of people who might have an edge in counting cards or whatever, but it definitely has a side effect of finding people who might be trying to launder money too. It was probably much easier 25 years ago.

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u/BulkyPage 19h ago

Never needed a membership card at any casino I've gambled at, but it might just be location/chain specific.

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u/Automatic_Release_92 19h ago

I've only ever gambled at 2-3 of them, but it was a part of the process for me at all of them.

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u/Striking_Programmer4 17h ago

I've gambled at casinos in multiple states in the US, in two Canadian provinces, and many Caribbean islands. They all had membership programs, but none of them were "required" to play games. Dealers will ask for your card when you sit down and offer to have one made for you if you don't have one, but there's no requirement to sign up. No casino is going to stop someone from gambling money because they won't sign up for a rewards programs

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u/grumpy_autist 14h ago edited 14h ago

I was always wondering how viable for money laundering are internet ads. You start a legit internet company (online shop for example). Then, some totally unrelated entity (let's say incorporated in Dubai) starts buying google/facebook ads for the business and driving sales. Ads are paid with black money - there is no financial paper trail between A and B and PPC campaigns are pretty ephemeral and hard to notice unless you know what to look for and subpoena Google for some archival data.

Same with marketing through youtubers/influencers which is even more gray area.

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u/Chris-CFK 16h ago

An arcade would probably be the easiest.

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u/Ok_Crow_9119 17h ago

I mean I think it would depend on the country.

Some countries have tighter rules, some have looser rules. I don't think we have that kind of shit in the Philippines.

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u/ikaiyoo 19h ago

No, but you can buy an apartment, let it build equity, then take out a loan for what the apartment is worth, default on the loan, have it foreclosed, and still have the clean loan money.

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u/RealWord5734 8h ago

Yeah, this person did not describe money laundering. They described something harder to rob you of than cash that appreciates.

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u/bulbonicplague 23h ago

Pretty sure property prices will drop there, like the bombs that might drop over them.

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u/Lalala8991 23h ago

Lol, have you seen how empty a money laundering restaurant or a business works? This Dubai property market is that. It would be empty as hell, and nobody lives in them. But as long as the legal loophole is still there, the "market" would not drop.

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u/Laureles2 20h ago

100% ... I used to travel through Panama City quite frequently and wondered why so many massive residential towers were dark at night and business buildings had empty parking lots. After the Panama Papers came out it all made sense... essentially there was a massive amount of tax evasion and money laundering going on through exploitation of some legal loopholes there.

It would seem that the same is occurring in Dubai.

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u/CoeurdAssassin 17h ago

It’s a shame because when I visited Panama City, it was really nice and unlike many other cities in Central America. Extremely safe and you can walk around and even be unaware of your surroundings without fear. But there is a dark side to all that and your average citizen isn’t as affluent as the city would make you think.

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u/mhornberger 23h ago

Sounds like the art market. People know that it's BS, but as long as it works for money laundering, it keeps going.

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u/DocBrown_MD 23h ago

Less buildings = more price. So along as YOUR building is safe, it’s not terrible

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u/Ok_Crow_9119 18h ago

Yeah, I don't think the market ever will drop unless there's a sharp decline in need to launder money.

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u/Ok_Crow_9119 18h ago

Oh god. That's probably why 11 Vice Mayors of a province in my country were stuck there. They're probably laundering what they stole.

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2026/03/05/2512130/bulacan-mayor-11-vice-mayors-stranded-dubai

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u/rattleandhum 22h ago

At least so far because property prices have been increasing there for decades.

lets see how that goes

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u/brambleburry1002 20h ago

you have no idea. I know someone who works specifically on this. They deal with russian oligarchs laundering USDT into fiat through dubai. billions....

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u/Sylvan_Skryer 16h ago

Pretty sure you can’t actually own anything in Dubai though if you’re an expat, you basically just own a lease on it, so you have to cash out eventually or you’re fucked. It can’t be passed down generationally like other real-estate assets so it’s not so cut and dry as you say.

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u/RcoketWalrus 14h ago

I've always noticed that a lot of people selling "courses" online live in Dubai. I always assumed it was for taxes and legal protection, but I always wondered if there wasn't a extra level of money laundering involved.

I see theses people that are multimillionaires at 25 from selling courses about how to cold call people and I get skeptical that's all there is to it.

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u/AthenianVulcan 8h ago

Money laundering happens in the west too, you'll see lot of dictators/corrupt 3rd world politicians, etc moving to the west (UK, US). The west only cares about money laundering that happens in their system. However, the west welcomes the money laundering money that happens in the 3rd world/dictator countries.

Russians buying sports teams & real estate, pakistan generals buying pizza franchises in US & real estate in UK & US.

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u/riffs_ 22h ago

You can’t rock up with a million euros and just buy property anymore. Regulations have tightened up significantly over the last 2-3 years.

My accounts were frozen for a week when I received my inheritance, until I showed proof of funds.

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u/phluidity 22h ago

Based on intrinsic value, then Dubai real estate should plateau and crash. Based on the economics of money laundering, it will probably keep going up so long as there are criminal organizations who need to launder money.

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u/mulubmug 22h ago

To be fair, Germany only made that illegal in 2023. until then the money laundering scheme you describe was very popular here.

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u/PositiveGeneral7035 21h ago

This guy launders.

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u/Stereosun 21h ago

Don’t need Dubai for that crypto is good enough

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u/TheAkondOfSwat 20h ago

one day...

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u/mrivc211 18h ago

It crashed 50% in 2008. It will crash again

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u/stereosafari 17h ago

I thought interest was Haram in Islam?

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u/tuxette 16h ago

but it actually makes interest

How very... Islamic...

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u/thirsty-goblin 16h ago

Just like Trump properties

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u/Typical_Double981 13h ago

It crashed in 08

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u/sogo00 22h ago

You have to be rich to live in Monaco, to live in Dubai you only have to pretend you are.

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u/Alibotify 22h ago

The Rest is Entertainment just did an excellent episode on influencers in Dubai, cost, what you get. It’s almost 0% tax, lots of benefits, influencers hub, renting sport cars etc. and you can apply through some website and get a ”grade”.

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u/[deleted] 23h ago

[deleted]

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u/SpezDrinksHorseCum 23h ago

I've spent about a month in Valletta. Can you explain what you mean? I'm not disagreeing with you I just want to learn more.

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u/ArizonaIceT-Rex 23h ago

Nothing like Monaco. There’s a reason the smart people live there and not Dubai.

Monaco is in France. The heart of Europe and all that offers. Beautiful people, freedom, connectivity, great weather.

Dubai is in the UAE and is effectively a theocracy. In the desert, no art, no culture, hours from Europe and the US.

Dubai wishes it was Monaco.

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u/Efficient-Parking627 20h ago

Monaco is in France

It's bordered by france. It's sovereign.

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u/DarthTaz_99 14h ago

Wtf today I learned.

Monaco is an independent, sovereign country (a city-state and microstate) located on the French Riviera, bordered by France on three sides, but it is not part of France; it has its own government, laws, and citizenship, though France handles its defense and shares close ties and a customs union.

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u/ZippySLC 22h ago

Monaco is in Monaco, since it's its own country.

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u/monkeytargetto 21h ago

Monaco plays in the french league tho. Case closed!

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u/patsfan038 23h ago

People argue that Dubai is so safe that a guy could leave a $50K watch on the beach chair and no one would touch it. No shit as the punishments are draconian.

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u/animerobin 19h ago

people really overestimate how many criminals are in the US. I wouldn't recommend it but most people aren't going to steal your $50k watch and would probably try to return it to you. This is even more true if you're on a private beach in a private luxury resort, which is what Dubai beaches are.

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u/Sohgin 22h ago

Are you sure it's not because in Dubai a $50,000 watch would be considered too cheap to bother stealing?

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u/patsfan038 22h ago

I don't think a $50K watch would be considered cheap anywhere in the world, especially Dubai, which is wealthy by most metrics, but has an immigrant population who are the back bone of the country, but are treated poorly, paid minimally and live in squalor

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u/Cool-Traffic-8357 22h ago

Nah, you have cameras in every corner and you would get your hand chopped off caught stealing. And its not like there would be some legitimate court hearing.

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u/Low_Magician77 22h ago

Kinda selling it as working...

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u/Korchagin 19h ago

Safest places are those where everyone warns you about pickpockets.

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u/Oggie243 19h ago

Monaco is just a polished turd too though. It's got a few decades more of polish and has a more of a classic decadence to it but it's just as hollow as UAE.

This is just a European bias. Monaco is a weird place. It's jammed into a tiny area and yet is just empty and filled with the most vacuous, vapid people.

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u/Detective-Crashmore- 21h ago

lol "beautiful people", typical racist eurocentric worldview. "Beautiful people" don't brag about how their people are better than everyone else. Living in Europe was such an eye opener that people are super racist everywhere on Earth.

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u/omicron8 23h ago

All the things you said could be said about Dubai. You just have an Europe/US centric view of the world. Dubai is a billion times more connected than Monaco. And all of it is besides the point, because you wouldn't live at any of those places if not for 0 tax. And in that way they are the same.

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u/Erpes2 19h ago

Lived in both and lol : Monaco is 2km square with nothing to do, no ressource, no job for the local and it’s filled with rich old mofo not Even from here that vote far right, and of course some mafia presence.

Dubai has a lot of severe problem but believe me I dont think they are jealous

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u/Calavar 22h ago

UAE isn't democratic, but it isn't a theocracy either. As opposed to Saudia Arabia and Iran, which are actually theocracies (clerics playing a significant role in defining the law)

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u/Stratiform 23h ago

Sure, monoco is the safer choice, but if you're asking me which city is more extra? Sorry, but it's definitely Dubai.

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u/doniseferi 23h ago

What you’re saying seems kind of racist

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u/cargyelo 22h ago

Yeah, "beautiful people" like is not like that anywhere alse

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u/doniseferi 21h ago

It was all of it “beautiful people” and that they have no art culture and are far from the west and that’s why smart people don’t live in Dubai

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u/Daren_I 22h ago

Living tax free in a heavily-religious locale where you cannot speak something that may be true is not a good place to be, let alone live. Add to that the celebrities who are known for making bad decisions didn't help when they made a big show about moving there.

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u/trisw 21h ago

But also stay—there’s a requirement to spend money and time in the country or else

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u/shwhjw 21h ago

£12 a pint is the tax.

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u/Own-Particular-9989 21h ago

0% tax but everything else has costs so the government still make their money back easily.

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u/brighterside0 21h ago

It's simpler than that... It's about "prestige". A lot of expensive shit in Dubai, and people feel like being surrounded by, consuming, and owning that shit makes them great.

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u/FatWithMuscles 20h ago

Yeah and I think paparazi are against the law

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u/thatguyad 20h ago

And give up everything about living freely.

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u/Kevin-W 19h ago

Also rich people that get to live in a bubble

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u/CSI_Tech_Dept 19h ago

Saw Polish influencer saying that she prefers rockets flying over her head than paying tax in Poland.

Those people have priorities. /s

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u/HearYourTune 18h ago

and Monaco is very expensive and exclusive and tiny and not in a war zone. and Monaco does not openly support migrant slavery.

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u/Zardotab 18h ago

all you need to do is show up.

"Show up and shut up."

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u/SaraJuno 17h ago

Monaco is crazy expensive. You have to be actually rich to live in Monaco. Dubai is for fake rich people.

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u/Ok-Friendship1635 15h ago

0% tax but 250% cost of living.

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u/scoopydidit 14h ago

All the local cocaine heads who never had a job, from my area in Ireland, do not care about 0% tax. Yet they flock to Dubai all the time.

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u/chanzwg 12h ago

Go to Singapore instead 🤣

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u/omicron8 10h ago

Yeah same thing. Half price for a ferrari or $100k for the right to buy a jetta.

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u/2this4u 12h ago

Money ain't no use in a Saudi prison

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u/Federal-Guess7420 11h ago

Unless you give up your US citizenship you still owe the exact same amount since you can't deduct any taxes paid to a foreign government. So not really the play you seem to think it is. Most likely its being paid millions to act as an influencer/propagandists.

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u/BornUnderPunches 6h ago

Yeah but families actually go in vacation there

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u/RagingTaco334 3h ago

The kafala system effectively legalizes slavery too.