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UAE Media Council

Also known as: Emirates Media Council · former UAE media regulator

Definition

The UAE Media Council was the federal body that regulated media content in the UAE until December 2025, when the National Media Authority replaced it by Federal Decree-Law. Material written before then may name the Council as the regulator, and the Authority is the body to name now.

Gulf News reported on 18 December 2025 that the UAE created the National Media Authority to replace the Council. The new body also took over from the National Media Office and the Emirates News Agency. Press naming differs: Gulf News calls the earlier body the Emirates Media Council and Campaign Middle East calls it the UAE Media Council, but both mean the same one. The decree-law's number has not been confirmed from an official text, so don't cite one without checking.

In practice, anything that presents the Media Council as the current regulator is out of date. The Advertiser Permit, for example, is now issued by the National Media Authority. Update the checklists, creator contracts and compliance notes your team uses so they name the Authority, and confirm any rule on the Authority's own pages before relying on a law-firm summary. Treat this as general information, not legal advice.

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