Arab Women × Online Safety Regulations

Protection on Paper vs Lived Reality

Online safety regulations across the Arab region have expanded rapidly in recent years. Harassment, blackmail, image-based abuse, and digital exploitation are increasingly recognized as legal violations, and many Arab countries have introduced or updated Cybercrime laws to address online harms. Across the region, governments are actively prioritizing stronger regulatory frameworks and digital protections.

On paper, the framework looks strong. But digital spaces are not gender-neutral, and women often pay the highest price when protections fail. While this risk exists globally, it can carry heightened personal and reputational consequences within Arab legal and social contexts, making effective protection especially critical.

Yet for many Arab women, protection is shaped less by what legislation promises and more by how systems function in practice. This includes, but is not limited to, social media platform policies, local enforcement mechanisms, emerging technologies such as AI, and the social factors that determine whether reporting feels safe, accessible, and effective.

This article draws on qualitative conversations with Arab women aged 13–79 to examine how that gap between legal frameworks and lived reality plays out in practice.

Local Cybersecurity Laws vs. Social Media Platform Policies

For most Arab women, online protection is not experienced through a single system. Instead, it sits between two parallel mechanisms: Local law and social media platform policies. Across interviews, nearly all participants assumed that Cybersecurity or Data Protection laws already exist in their countries. Harassment, blackmail, and image misuse were widely understood to be illegal.

However, few women could explain what those laws specifically provide, where to file a complaint, or what steps follow after reporting. Legal protection, while acknowledged, often felt abstract, something that exists in theory but is difficult to navigate in practice.

As a result, many women rely first on platforms. Teenagers and women in their early twenties described in-app reporting tools as their primary line of defense simply because they feel faster and more immediate than formal legal routes. But trust in platforms was limited. Several participants said reporting frequently leads to no visible action:

                              “Sometimes you report something and they do nothing about it.”

At the same time, the legitimacy of country laws still mattered. A 14-year-old participant noted that formal legal rules feel more binding than platform policies, since people are more likely to follow national regulation.

A participant in her twenties drew a clear distinction between privacy and safety. While she acknowledged that most platforms provide customizable privacy controls, she questioned whether these measures translate into de facto protection. Privacy controls were seen as available but insufficient in addressing broader safety concerns, particularly in relation to the spread of misinformation. Her response suggests that the existence of platform tools alone does not necessarily create a sense of safety for users.

AI: A New Layer of Risk

Across age groups, one concern emerged consistently: AI.

Unlike traditional forms of online harm, participants described AI-related risks as faster, less traceable, and harder to control. The ability to generate or manipulate images, voices, or content without consent introduced a new level of unpredictability that many felt existing protections were not designed to address.

Younger women spoke about AI-generated images and altered content as “terrifying,” noting that it has already changed how freely they share personal information online. Several described becoming more cautious about visibility, anticipating misuse even before it occurs. For older participants, the concern was framed less in technical terms and more in legal ones. As a 79-year-old participant explained:

                          “AI is destructive… and there should be laws to protect us from it.”

This mismatch between technological speed and regulatory response left many participants uncertain about what remedies would realistically exist if such harm occurred. As a result, AI was viewed less as a feature of digital progress and more as a source of risk that current protections have yet to fully address.

Social Factors Shaping Reporting and Protection

Beyond formal rules and platform tools, many Arab women described a third influence on online safety, namely the broader context in which reporting takes place. Decisions to escalate harm were influenced by the practical realities and wider environment within which reporting mechanisms operate. Participants spoke about hesitation rooted in concerns about privacy, reputation, or whether their experiences would be taken seriously. A woman in her thirties noted that reporting can sometimes lead to additional scrutiny rather than support.

Participants in their twenties expressed similar concerns, describing uncertainty around procedures, fear of retaliation, and lack of clarity about where to seek help. At the same time, experiences varied. Some women described strong family backing that made reporting feel safer and more feasible.

Together, these perspectives suggest that even when protections exist, they are only effective if women feel socially able to use them.

Main Concerns Raised by Arab Women

Across interviews, Arab women’s concerns clustered around a consistent set of structural risks that shape everyday online use:

• Unwanted contact and exposure to strangers

• Account breaches and impersonation

• Image misuse and blackmail

• AI-driven manipulation

• Ineffective reporting systems

• Children’s online exposure

Taken together, these concerns suggest that online safety for Arab women is shaped not by isolated incidents, but by an ongoing calculation of vulnerability, what to share, how visible to be, and whether protection will actually materialize if harm occurs.

What Protection Should Look Like According to Arab Women

When asked what would make them feel safer, participants’ expectations were direct and practical rather than technical.

Across ages, Arab women consistently called for:

• Faster action on reports

• Immediate removal of harmful content

• Clear and accessible reporting pathways

• Visible consequences for perpetrators

• Explicit protections addressing AI misuse

• Stronger safeguards and controls for children

• Greater awareness and education about rights and procedures

In short, safety was defined less by the number of regulations and more by whether help arrives when it is needed.

Conclusion

Across generations, Arab women’s experiences reveal a consistent gap between protection in theory and protection in practice. While regulations and policies continue to expand, safety ultimately depends on something simpler: whether systems respond quickly, clearly, and effectively when harm occurs. As digital life becomes inseparable from everyday life across the region, online safety must move beyond written promises toward protection that is accessible, responsive, and trusted.

-Leen Awartani