Internet & Online Safety - Qatar

Law No. 14 of 2014 (Cybercrime Prevention Law) is the core instrument governing online conduct; Article 6 punishes publishing 'false news' that threatens state safety, security or public order with up to three years imprisonment and fines up to QR 500,000.

Law No. 11 of 2025, published in the Official Gazette on 4 August 2025, bans circulating images or videos of individuals without their consent, punishable by up to one year imprisonment and/or a QR 100,000 fine; rights groups warn it can be used against journalism and free expression.

The Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA), established by Emiri Decree No. 42 of 2014, oversees filtering, and state-owned ISPs block sites via a national proxy. Filtered categories include pornography, LGBTQ content, gambling, political criticism of Gulf states, sexual-health resources and circumvention tools; a block page is served (relatively transparent filtering).

Qatar has no DSA/OSA-equivalent statute imposing systemic duties of care, notice-and-action, or transparency obligations on online platforms; control is exercised through criminal liability of individuals and direct ISP-level blocking rather than intermediary-liability rules.

There is no published statutory age-verification regime for online services or adult content comparable to the UK OSA; access to age-restricted/adult material is instead handled by outright filtering and blocking. No official source establishing a mandatory age-assurance scheme was found.

Freedom House classifies Qatar as 'Not Free'; social-media users can face criminal penalties for politically sensitive posts, security forces reportedly monitor communications, and non-citizens and scholars widely self-censor.