Internet Censorship in the UAE: Examining the Impact of Social Media Censorship on the Freedom of Young Generation

The methodology of any research endeavor can define the overall structure of the approach that will be utilized in the paper as well as the type of results that will be encountered.

Methodology

Each methodological approach possesses certain traits or characteristics that define its nature in terms of how the investigative endeavor is carried out.

Depending on the nature of the assignment and the resources available, choosing the most appropriate methodological approach can be the difference between effective research and a complete waste of resources and efforts. With all this in mind, this chapter describes the methodological approaches that were chosen for this dissertation (Kumar, 2019).

• Approach

A combination of primary and secondary approaches was determined to be the most suitable approach for this topic. The primary approach involved utilizing a mixed interpretative approach aimed at extracting data from a closed-ended questionnaire (Appendix A). This allowed for the collection of data directly from the source, which would present strong corroborative evidence. The secondary approach also involved the use of a mixed methods approach, which consisted of using the data from scholarly articles as a means of providing additional context and information regarding the topic. A mixed approach was chosen because the research topic consists of an issue that cannot be completely studied to a satisfactory degree using only a quantitative or a qualitative approach. While a purely quantitative approach would provide statistical data and allow for the quantification of various parameters, it would, however, be simply limited to this aspect alone (Robson, 2011). That is, the data would be merely representative of the quantifiable factors associated with the investigation. It would thus fail to highlight the issues that cannot be quantified, and this would, in turn, decrease the overall effectiveness of the study. Omitting the qualitative aspects would exclude a very human factor upon which this study is based. A purely qualitative approach, meanwhile, would provide information in a purely subjective manner. The hard, quantifiable data that would be needed to measure the impact or provide trackable statistical data would be missing. This would lead to the data generated by the study being unusable for the tracking of trends and changes that occur within the social circles of the participants. Therefore, a combination of these two approaches was necessary in terms of allowing for the analysis of all the different aspects of this study (Brannen, 2017).

Furthermore, using both primary and secondary approaches allows for data to be gathered both directly and indirectly. The information retrieved from other scholars can then be compared with the data extracted from the primary approach as a means of obtaining corroborative evidence (i.e. substantiating the findings, or checking for discrepancies) (Clark, 2013).

• Design

This sub-section explores the design of the research methodology. Specifically, the discrete methods utilized in the process of conducting this investigative exercise are discussed. The primary method employed consisted of a closed-ended questionnaire.

Questions that were pertinent to the topic were presented to the participants, who were given the option of replying using a closed-ended answering scale. The Likert scale was used to allow the participants to respond to the queries presented to them. This has several advantages, including, for example, the data collected from the participants will be quantifiable, which allows for the tracking of data, meaning it can then be interpreted for further use in the paper (Maxwell, 2012). As the participants did not have the option of providing open-ended answers, the data retrieved from them should be comprehensive and easy to process. Furthermore, the large variability in answers that can be derived from an open-ended questionnaire could be avoided, thus reducing the complexity of the data used in the dissertation.

Meanwhile, the second approach involved using electronic databases to search for relevant scholarly data in the form of articles. This introduced the work of other scholars into the dissertation, which we hoped would prove extremely useful. As the number of articles in the database was likely to be considerable, search criteria in terms of relevant keywords were applied to identify potentially relevant articles. These were then sorted and filtered as required to ensure that only pertinent articles directly related to the research topic remained. The research articles expanded the reach of the paper by providing additional data on aspects that could not be explored in this dissertation (Krosnick, 2018).

Both qualitative and quantitative data were made available from the research, which facilitated the comparisons among the data collected in the primary approach, meaning a more comprehensive overview of the research could be achieved. This represents a superior approach to limiting the research to a single method or approach.

• Data Collection Method

This section describes the data collection methods used in the undertaking of this dissertation. Data collection tools are important aspects because they can be used to define the specific parameters within which the data collection is conducted. Therefore, it is always prudent to choose parameters that align with the aims and objectives of the dissertation. With this in mind, the age group deemed suitable for this topic was the 18– 21-year-old group. This group was chosen because the young people in this age group would be able to articulate their feelings about internet censorship and because they represent one of the most significant demographics in terms of using social media in the contemporary setting.

Meanwhile, a snowball approach was utilized to increase the number of participants taking part in answering the questionnaire. This ensured a sufficiently large sample size and allowed for a wide range of answers to be received (Johnson, 2012). The snowball approach comprises the use of referrals, where the initial users chosen to answer the questionnaires will forward it to parties related to them. This allows for the questionnaire to spread within similar social circles, thus increasing its exposure among

the individuals who fall within the chosen category. This primary data collection technique also presents the advantage of receiving answers directly from the users of social media who fall within a specific age range. A significant amount of empirical evidence will be the result of such an approach and the answers from this empirical or anecdotal evidence can then be compared to test the validity of each answer. This can be achieved through cross-analyzing the answers to check for discrepancies. The databases can provide a significant amount of insight through the secondary data collection method of extracting pertinent information from articles regarding the chosen topic. A secondary approach has the advantage of offering multiple perspectives on the topic from the investigations of others (Ghartey, 2014).

• Data Collection Tools

This sub-section explains, analyses, and justifies the data collection tools selected for undertaking this study. Data collection tools have unique characteristics that separate one from the other. Each data collection tool relies on a specific approach to extracting data or information from the chosen field of investigation.

Accordingly, each data collection method will have a framework that may or may not fit into the requirements of the specific scholar. Ergo, a pertinent part of the selection of data collection tools is determining the most appropriate tool for the job in terms of fulfilling the standard requirements of the scholars in providing quality data.

Furthermore, the feasibility of using each tool must be taken into account, as some data collection tools have an approach that can involve a significant amount of financial resources (Spence, Lachlan, and Rainear, 2016).

Two data collection tools were employed in the process of fulfilling the goals of this dissertation. These were selected following substantial consideration of a significant number of factors. The feasibility of the chosen approaches was analyzed, and it was determined that the best tool for the primary approach was a closed-ended questionnaire. This was because a questionnaire would allow for the utilization of a more constructive and restrained approach and because, while an open-ended questionnaire would have resulted in a wide range of answers and quantifying them would have presented an arduous and unfeasible task, a closed-ended survey allows for the answers to be restrained to specific, measurable quantities.

Meanwhile, in terms of the second approach, exploring the literature of other scholars was determined to be the best approach (Rowley, 2014), largely because scholarly articles will have undergone extensive scrutiny and, correspondingly, they would provide a significant amount of reliably sourced and cited data that would increase the validity of this study. The possible presence of aspects not originally considered was also a major reason behind our choice.

• Limitations

This sub-section presents the limitations of this work, which may affect the scope of the application of the results. All studies have inherent limitations as a result of their specific design and framework. This is because employing any approach presents certain characteristics and factors that may not always work to the benefit of the task being undertaken. Furthermore, the limitations of a study can be the consequences of having limited available resources for the investigative endeavor. The limited amount of resources can often result in research designs that have to be reduced in terms of ambition and scope and, subsequently, the methods that can be utilized. Per se, the shortcomings of this study are also inherently based on its design (Shipman, 2014).

One of the limiting factors associated with the approach selected concerns the usage of a closed-ended questionnaire. This is because when participants’ answers are reduced to a series of choices that may suffer from large, overlapping gaps, it can be difficult to obtain any nuanced data. The aspect of transferring such a subjective, qualitative factor as human thought and emotion into a quantifiable, objective measure presents significant challenges. One such problem is that not everyone will have the same rating on the scale, that is, people may have their scales in terms of how they evaluate items. Like this, the lack of a standard scale to measure the participants’ responses can diminish the elemental data from the qualitative side. In short, the questionnaire cannot be used to elicit specific and individual responses, which could each provide a unique perspective on the subject (Christensen, Johnson, and Turner 2011).

The secondary approach of utilizing the articles of other scholars as a means of increasing the available information for this dissertation also entails certain limitations. The secondary approach means that work can only be done on previously extracted data. Thus, all that can be done is to review the paper and interpret the data, meaning no new aspects can be uncovered using this approach (Terrell, 2012).

It is important to note that limitations also lie in the inability to access a larger number of participants for the questionnaire. This may have increased the risk of sampling bias, where the presence of a unique phenomenon may give the impression that such activity occurs in the environment being analyzed. There may also be a language gap, as not everyone involved is fluent in English. For this reason, some of the participants in the study may have misinterpreted the questions provided. Unfortunately, this limitation could not be overcome due to the limitations in terms of available resources.

• Results

This section presents the results extracted by following the methodology outlined above for gathering the data for the investigative endeavor. First, the results of the questionnaire, which involved the participation of young people aged between 18 and 21, are presented. Only the data and the trends that can be analyzed through the results are described here, while the data trends are compared as a means of self-correcting any possible errors or contradictions that may have arisen, through a process of cross-checking to ensure that everything is corroborative. Each variable is presented individually.

The secondary approach data is presented in a mixed interpretative fashion, as some of the aspects that are explored in the articles will not be specifically limited to quantifiable data. Including quantifiable data is hugely important to the determination of trends and pattern recognition, while it does exclude aspects that cannot be quantified for lack of an available method to measure them accurately. From this perspective, a mixed data representation method of presenting results was employed, as it can more effectively capture the intricacies and the quantifiable factors of the chosen studies for analysis (Major and Savin-Baden, 2013

First, the data from the primary approach is laid out, while the entire results and the questionnaire itself can be found in Appendix A. As can be seen from the first question, almost all the survey respondents utilize social media. Although a few of the participants do not seem to use it as regularly as the users in the highest cohort and a few even have a neutral attitude toward social media, the overall result is indicative of social media usage being common among youths. Once again, in line with the previous question, a large cohort of the participants strongly agreed that the government was trying to censor social media. Almost the entire cohort of participants strongly agreed that the government’s action of censoring social media had led them to alter their communication methods and habits.

The entire group agreed that the blocks that had been imposed on users as a result of the government instructing ISPs to blacklist platforms that the government deemed offensive were not only circumventable but that they were all able to circumvent the blocks. Most of the cohort strongly disagreed with the government’s censorship and thought that what the government was doing by censoring and blocking social media sites was wrong, while a few might have had some doubts, with others perhaps even partially agreeing with the attendant motive. The last question consisted of asking the group if they were able to express themselves freely. While most strongly disagreed, there were a few who did not perceive it in that way, while some remained neutral about the issue.

Censorship has affected how young users are now connecting to the Internet. However, they have several ways to mask their activity and avoid persecution by the government. This demonstrates that the users will continue to use social media platforms by using means to mask their activities, even under the threat of legal action from the government. The younger generation also finds the older generations to be less flexible and unlikely to adopt the usage of social media in their regular day-to-day lives. The users expressed that they would be in extreme distress if they were denied social media access, stating that individuals are primarily responsible for what they expose themselves to.

Next, the data from the second approach, which uses scholarly articles, is presented. It was noted that the majority of the users of the platforms generally did not like the idea that their posts would be subject to great scrutiny by the government. The idea of having to consistently monitor their speech and how they behave is regarded by the younger users of social media as a serious form of oppression. A significant number of social media platforms allow users to have blogs. This is where they can share their thoughts and feelings with fellow users, form solidarity bonds, and discuss interesting subjects. When there is an omnipresent governmental threat, where the users cannot be entirely sure which of their posts might be deemed unsuitable material, a certain amount of confusion and fear ensues (Warf, 2011).

Zittrain et al. (2017) demonstrate that within the region of UAE, a large part of the censorship consists of religious-based filtering. That is, content that is perceived to be offensive or derogatory toward the religion of Islam is blocked and/or censored. This extreme reaction, allegedly taken in the name of safeguarding religion, is cited as being entrenched in the fact that the region is heavily influenced by Islam. For certain, the population of the area is predominantly Muslim, including the ex-pats, who constitute a large part of the population many of whom originate from similar faith-based and religion-focused Muslim countries. Even websites that have not been directly offensive to the government or the religion of Islam have fallen victim to the filtering process.

Content promoting other religions or even providing information about them has also been filtered by the government.

It is stated that the government is heavy-handed in terms of controlling the type of content that UAE residents can be exposed to. The extreme filtering parameters and

the potentially harsh and extensive sentences and punishments that could be faced by offenders are cited as signs of extreme intolerance and a lack of openness to outside cultures and ideas. Here, Joseph (2012) demonstrates that social media platforms have helped revolutionaries to communicate with each other and plan their tactics in countries where the oppressive regime of the government has reached intolerable levels. This is presented as one of the areas that a government wishing to avoid a potential revolt against its regime would be interested in. The UAE, in continuing to employ a government ruled by royalty, is, as this paper shows, a potential target for a repeat of what happened in the Arab Spring.

It is speculated, however, that, in some cases, the usage of social media sites may also be preventing people from revolting. This is because they are generally placated due to the content they browse online. Indeed, it is highlighted that a large number of users partake in consuming content that is generally intended to make them feel calm and content. This prevents their curiosity from rising to the point where they may relate to or investigate the potential for taking action against the government, which is in line with the activity of filtering that the government carries out regularly. This is especially prevalent in the case of religious content. In short, the government can effectively carry out mass censorship due to the shared beliefs of a large number of Muslim residents, which means it does not go against the sensibilities of the local population.

Subramanian (2011) demonstrates that the governments of Middle Eastern countries, including the UAE, have taken steps to ensure that the telecommunication companies need the approval of the government to operate. The ISPs in the UAE consist of a national monopoly involving the Etisalat Company, with Du being the second telecommunications provider, albeit with a very limited number of users. The government has chosen to filter the content that is exposed to the population by removing any that it deems potentially ‘harmful’ to individuals. The actual harm is not explained or described in any manner and is perceived as being religion-based due to the nature of the country's government.

• Discussion

The interpretation of results is an important component of any scientific investigation. Interpretation involves taking the results of the research endeavor and then analyzing the relevant data. This analysis can then be used to interpret different perspectives derived through using the data from the experiment as a seed to project how the data can be applied to the current field of knowledge. This is a vital component because data are not inherently useful; rather, a dataset needs to be placed into a certain context to provide it with the meaning that can then be used to understand what the data represents. This also opens up the possibility of one datum having several connotations or meanings that can be derived from the same variable or piece of information. This prevents the situation where certain factors of a topic can have a multitude of dimensions that all need to be explored, analyzed, and understood to achieve a complete systematic understanding of the topic.

Hence, interpreting data can further demonstrate which perspectives have been considered based on the research data. This illustrates which aspects have received considerable attention and which have not received as much. Furthermore, unknown perspectives can often be identified by comparing a list of known perspectives to see if such elements have been addressed previously. As interpretations can be highly subjective, and as certain qualitative elements are used to interpret the data, it is important to note that the interpretations of the data presented here may not represent the entirety of what can be extracted. Therefore, it would be prudent for other scholars or interested individuals to undertake the effort to try and form their perspectives on the data presented in this paper (Meyers, Gamst, and Guarino, 2016).

One of the details that emerged from the questionnaire examples that were provided to the young users of the social media platforms was that the users regularly utilized social media platforms. Almost all of them use social media, and for them, it forms a significant part of their daily routine. This demonstrates that the role of social media has evolved from being simply a way of communicating with different individuals to being a vital part of everyday life, where the communicative ability to reach remote users has become a ubiquitous part of life. This is pertinent because these users, being of a young age, adopted this technology at such an early point in their lives that any usage restrictions imposed on the platforms could be hugely detrimental to their ability to communicate with their friends (Deuze, 2011). It may even take a psychological toll on them, similar to what occurs when a person is isolated and not allowed to interact with other people socially. The effect, in the end, would be the same, as the users would be effectively silenced.

While the majority of the users agreed with the notion that the government is trying to censor social media platforms, others, who were not as sure, exhibited general confusion. This could be a result of their religious beliefs, which may have influenced the answers of some of the participants in the questionnaire (Gerbaudo, 2013).

It is important to note that this very faith-based system is the major driving force behind the government’s decision to take such a harsh stance on what is approved for online viewing and what is considered inappropriate. The way people communicate has been greatly affected by the censorship imposed by the government on social media, which was evident from the fact that almost all the users strongly agreed with what was suggested in the related question. While a very small minority disagreed here, this may, again, have been a result of their considering the possibility that they may be sinning while participating in the survey. Indeed, this is most likely the case, given the answers that were provided in the previous questions (Coulson, 2017).

Interestingly, it would appear that all the users who were surveyed for this investigation had the technical capability and knew how to circumvent whatever blockage techniques the government used on the social media platforms that they utilize. The entire group answering yes to this question demonstrates that some of the previously answered questions involved a level of hesitancy about this circumvention, as those who remained unaffected by social media censorships or blockages would not likely be seeking ways to circumvent them. Of course, while there may be the occasional user who is interested in technology and in tinkering with computers, the average user will not seek out such topics unless they are prompted to do so by a specific event, such as the blockage of their social media platform (Ernest et al., 2014).

Most of the users agreed that the government was wrong to censor content. This question was asked in terms of censorship in general and while it included social media, it did not explicitly mention it. This meant that the question was related to censorship as a whole, specifically when applied by the government of the UAE. For the most part, the users strongly disagreed with the stance that the government has taken against allegedly questionable content, as the content the government disapproves of can be highly variable, depending on their agenda. Some of the users did not agree in such strong terms, while others remained neutral here. This further illustrates the effect of censorship on the behavior of the people in the sense that as some people are worried that they may be identified through the views they hold, they sometimes deviate toward the other side rather than agree with the idea of government wrongdoing (Warf, 2013).

The next question was almost in complete alignment with the previous one in terms of the results that were returned. There was little change beyond five percent of the answers being taken from neutral to disagree. The answer to this question of expression demonstrates that the content these people desire to consume has been largely determined by the government to be harmful or offensive. Since some users were unable to express their views, this is indicative of the fact that openly stating views that may be seen as running counter to the religion of Islam or that of the country can involve severe punishments as a consequence. The government has, in effect, silenced a large segment of the population from speaking out against its policies through the threat of legal action (Alqudsi-ghagra, Al-Bannai, and Al-Bahrani, 2011).

Most of the participants answered that they would experience distress if social media were cut off, which demonstrates the incredible amount of social interconnectivity that these social media platforms represent. Meanwhile, the idea that the government is spying on the people is universally hated by all the participants. The users surveyed almost all the visited content that was blocked by the government, which indicates the users of these platforms generally have little regard for the internet laws and the attendant regulations of the country. The older generation was also seen as being less in line with the vision that the younger generation had in mind. This clash of expectations can be seen as one of the issues that cause government officials to create rules and regulations for a generation of people they do not fully understand.

One of the most problematic aspects relates to the fact that the laws that define the regulations and rules regarding internet usage are extremely vague in terms of meaning. This vagueness leaves the laws open to a very wide range of interpretations. These interpretations can then be used as an excuse to exercise the force of the law in an unlawful and unethical manner. This abuse of the law prevents a large segment of the population from being able to effectively speak out about the issue or create any awareness about it in the first place. A lack of awareness leads to social problems being largely ignored or kept as an open secret, as the information that is pertinent to specific cases will not be available if it is seen as potentially offensive or generally unacceptable by the country. For this reason, an awareness of the issue cannot be created, which may lead to a successful protest by the people to create change (Rajan, Ravikumar, and Al Shaer, 2017).

The ability to communicate represents a vital factor in how well people can effectively cooperate to accomplish whatever mutual goal they may have. Such cooperation can occur only when people can communicate their situations to each other effectively, exchange ideas, engage in discussions, or communicate in general terms. Any severance of the communication lines leaves the individual participants unable to counter the superior resources that are available to the government. This has been recognized by many governments and has been used as a tactic in politically sensitive times where the country and its reputation were in question. The various revolts of the people that might otherwise have arisen have been pre-emptively thwarted in a move by governments hoping to quell the flow of information, both into and out of the country, among unauthorized people (Szajkowski, 2011).

These moves are often deliberately aimed at severing the modes of communication of the people in an attempt to weaken the organizational behavior displayed by those supposedly participating in revolts. As is evident from the secondary results, scholars have illustrated that the UAE is heavily focused on determining filter parameters by utilizing a religious-based system. Therefore, the content that is heavily targeted and filtered out is any material that represents an anti-Islamic stance or is harmful according to the teachings of Islam. This has been used as a precedent to block other websites as well. Indeed, generally speaking, there has been massive abuse of vague laws regarding cybercrime, cyberbullying, or internet use in general. This means that users of social media face the risk of being subject to legal actions if they fail to comply with the standards that the government has deemed ethically and morally correct (Bowe and Blom, 2010).

Associated fears have led to several users transitioning to more anonymous means of communication and even subverting the government’s blocks by using services such as virtual private networks (VPNs). VPNs have become a major software tool regularly utilized by citizens of countries such as the UAE so that they can browse the content that the government has deemed too dangerous for them. This is indicative of the fact that there is an enormous breakdown in communication between the government officials taking these actions and the ordinary citizens trying to access content in the face of governmental pressure. The wide range of people who have become aware of technologies that can be used to bypass governmental blocks has increased significantly. This increase can be attributed to the fact that regular users, when unable to access their regular content, became interested in the technical concepts underlying what was happening (Al Sakkaf and Baker, 2018). From there, they began to learn more about the issue and eventually realized there were several ways in which people could bypass governmental restrictions on internet usage. This led them to utilize these ways before forwarding the information to their friends, creating a chain of people who suddenly possessed the technical capability and know-how to bypass the efforts of the government. This has the potential of rendering the governmental blacklisting merely ceremonial (Vora, 2012).

From these results, it can be determined that the governmental blocking and censorship of websites is largely despised by the users of such websites. It has triggered many of them to discover ways of circumventing the governmental blocks before proceeding to access the blacklisted content anyway, rendering the entire exercise by the government largely redundant. This lack of communication between the government and the people represents a strong point of friction that may be having detrimental effects on the possibility of cooperating and reaching a compromise.

Conclusion

This section consists of the concluding part of this work. The section is presented under several different headings based on the information presented thus far in the dissertation. Each different element is presented. First, the summary sub-section presents a summarisation of the data that was presented in the paper. This is followed by the sub-section on the key findings. These key findings consist of the vital interpretations and perspectives that could be derived from the available data. Both quantitative and qualitative perspectives are provided to increase the comprehensibility of the presented information and to cover as many dimensions as possible within the feasibility of the paper.

• Summary

This sub-section presents a summary of each of the previous chapters presented above. The summarization of the entire dissertation serves the purpose of breaking down all the information as a means of increasing the comprehensibility of the paper and providing an extra level of organization. Furthermore, a synthesis of the different information that was presented in the paper is carried out as a means of achieving an understanding greater than the sum of its parts. The information that can be gleaned from each of the previous chapters is presented here in chronological order.

The first chapter, the introduction, commenced the paper by providing a brief outline of the nature of the Internet and its use in the context of modern society. It demonstrated that while social media usage is a huge part of the way people communicate, it has been facing certain restrictions due to the different beliefs and perceptions of people around the globe. The chapter also outlined the aims and objectives of the paper and provided the rationale behind undertaking the investigation. An outline of the entire paper was also provided to ensure ease of navigation and to improve the organizational layout of the paper and the way it presents information. The ethical considerations that could be associated with the project were analyzed in great detail to ensure that standard ethical violations would not occur in either the primary or the secondary research applied in the dissertation.

The second chapter, the literature review, provided the rationale behind consulting scholarly articles as a means of not only providing context to the subject area being investigated but also improving the research design. The data extracted from the articles were used as a means of providing context to the research in terms of where it stood about the investigative endeavors previously undertaken by other scholars. The different databases searched yielded several results, which provided the additional data necessary to develop a more enlightened, better-informed perspective on the subject under investigation. Furthermore, some perspectives not previously considered were encountered and these served to increase the comprehension and reach of the project.

The third chapter consisted of laying out the methodology used in the investigative endeavor that was outlined in the first chapter. This chapter demonstrated that the best means of investigation, given the resources of the dissertation, would involve using a combination of primary and secondary approaches. This allowed for the extracted data to originate from two different categories of sources. The first consisted of the social media platform users under investigation, with this direct access to the subject of the project’s focus creating the potential for achieving greater insight into the users’ cognitive framework. Meanwhile, the second category was the secondary sources that formed the secondary approach deemed the best method for providing additional context and insight into any nuances and perspectives that might not have been considered before.

The fourth chapter consisted of the results that were obtained as a result of carrying out the methodologies that were listed in the previous chapter. The results consisted of the responses that were elicited from the users of the social media platforms (i.e. the data generated using the primary approach method) and the second dataset that was extracted from scholarly articles about the subject of the research. These articles represented works of investigation completed by other scholars who were interested in similar elements and who were invaluable not only in terms of providing corroborative evidence for the information in this dissertation but also in terms of inspiring suggestions and recommendations regarding what could have been achieved to a higher standard.

Meanwhile, the fifth chapter presented the discussion. This discussion was based on the information that was retrieved in the previous chapter and took elements of all the data that were presented in the previous section and used this as a means of synthesizing all the information available. This synthesis of information serves to create an understanding of the topic that is intended to be greater than the sum of its parts. The data from the primary survey served to substantiate many of the findings that were extracted from the articles of other scholars. Specifically, here, a universal dislike of governmental interference was observed. In short, users are not fond of the idea that the government has the power to punish them for posting content on the Internet that could potentially be perceived as a violation of the laws of the country and could leave them open to prosecution.

It was also demonstrated that the UAE has vague laws related to the use of digital platforms and social media in general. This is potentially seen as a way for the country to abuse its power by instituting a law guideline system that is highly subject to interpretation and can be easily abused by those in power.

The sixth and final chapter, which this summary forms part of, is composed of a summary of the entire dissertation followed by the key findings of the investigative endeavor, which are presented to highlight the major discoveries that partially represent the potential of internet usage in the academic environment. The social and academic contributions that this dissertation could make are enumerated to signify the importance of the outcomes of this study, while the limitations of this dissertation, based primarily on its inherent design, are also described. Finally, recommendations on how this project can be improved upon by other scholars are presented to act as a guide and reference point for future research.

• Key Findings

The key findings of a dissertation represent one of the most important aspects of any research study and are the most significant results achieved through executing an investigative endeavor. They represent some of the most important elements derived from the research material, which can then be presented in terms of justification. This justification relates to the time and other resources that were consumed as a result of undertaking the endeavor. From these key findings, potential contributions – with the findings serving as the inspiration or main concept – can be created. With this in mind, the key findings are explored in the following sub-section.

It was discovered that young users of social media platforms were unhappy to discover that their access to their favorite platforms had been denied. This led them to discover other ways of trying to access the websites or platforms, which eventually allowed them to bypass the blocks and digital blockades that had been established by the government. Such user behavior could have been avoided if the government had not, it could be argued, overreacted in the first place, since this was responsible for triggering the indignation of the users in the first place; indignation that led them to completely disregard the rules that the government had implemented. There is further corroborative evidence that the content that the UAE may be filtering out may not be as offensive or as filled with hate speech as the authorities would have us believe.

As the rules are at least partially based on a specific religious ideology, a majority of the rulings are also made on a religious basis. As is often the case with religious-based logical application, the result has been the condemnation of material that did not

even contain anything particularly offensive. This total overreaction to what is perceived to be an insult or sin generally emerged as a common theme in the findings.

• Social and Academic Contributions

Whenever such a significant research endeavor is carried out, the results derived from it can have many potential uses. This sub-section of the dissertation presents the potential academic contribution that has been or will be made, through the information that has become known as a result of carrying out the research endeavors associated with this dissertation. Social and academic contributions represent some of the most significant reasons for carrying out investigative research. The collected aggregate, or sum of knowledge from different scholars, contributes to social and academic development by introducing new knowledge into the field, which may be used for a variety of purposes as needed. In general, it increases the quality of life in contemporary society as a whole.

This dissertation provided a considerable amount of insight into the usage of social media within the Middle Eastern country of the UAE. The sociological understanding of UAE residents has been enhanced, as their mentality about the subject has provided insight into how the younger generations are more open to social media than the older, ruling generations. In academic terms, it was shown that the users of these services – which are intended to facilitate free speech – are, in fact, not capable of speaking freely, because a UAE resident found guilty of posting something deemed as offensive can be subjected to harsh punishment.

• Limitations of the Study

Every study will inevitably be subject to several limitations that will be the result of both the factors that are under the control of the researcher and those that can be controlled only partially or not at all by the researcher. The most common limitations pertain to the resources available for conducting the research. Limited resources naturally restrict the courses of action that can be taken to alleviate any problems, while the more ambitious aspects of the project can become unfeasible. This can result in settling for a potentially less robust method of conducting the study that could, in turn, reduce the quality of the results produced.

This section presents the limitations that pervaded this dissertation. These limitations represented some of the reasons why certain methods that could have theoretically been employed could not be considered. One such limitation concerned the lack of available physical databases for exploration. Physical databases may contain valuable supplementary information about the subject, perhaps providing potentially unique insight, while not every article can be published in a digital format, nor can every article be made available online for everyone to examine.

The closed-ended style survey also presented an important limiting factor. As the responses of the test subjects were significantly limited, a more binary representation was found in the data derived from them. The inability to take a more qualitative approach by asking the participants more open-ended questions resulted in greatly pared-down answers that failed to convey the nuances of thought that would perhaps have accompanied them. Each participant would have presented their reasons for their specific answers and, thus, new insights could have been identified and explored. However, due to the closed-ended design, such insights were completely lost in translation.

Meanwhile, the study of the work of other scholars in the second approach was limited by the age range that was chosen for the primary approach in this dissertation. In short, the age range of 18 to 21 years of age does not represent a well-defined age range in terms of social media users. Subsequently, the small number of studies that incorporated this exact criterion led to further issues.

• Recommendations for Future Research

This sub-section provides several recommendations that other scholars can consider to increase the depth of investigation that has been conducted on this topic thus far. The recommendations were generated based on the information that was presented in this paper. Here, based on what could be gleaned, several observations were made. From these observations, recommendations that could resolve some of the issues associated with the investigation conducted in this dissertation are presented. In addition, any improvements that could have been made to the overall research in terms of design or framework are presented to show how this investigative endeavor could have been improved.

One change that would have greatly improved the study overall in terms of the primary approach would have involved the utilization of an open-ended questionnaire. An open-ended questionnaire would have allowed the participants to discretely convey their answers and provide the context that would be required for a better understanding. With this, potential new aspects that this dissertation did not consider may have been

revealed, which could have potentially expanded the range and scope of the research to provide a more comprehensive overview of the topic.

Furthermore, when selecting the data from the scholarly articles, a lack of access to certain articles locked behind paywalls, or other such restrictive means that require significant funds, limited the scope of the articles that could be utilized in the study. The lack of access to certain scholarly articles meant that information that could have been highly pertinent to this study was missing and left uninvestigated. For this reason, there are certain gaps in the knowledge base provided by this dissertation. Having access to a larger library, or a larger number of scholarly articles will greatly increase the range of information available for utilization in the second approach.