Internet in Qatar

The report claims that in the Qatari society, "the issue of inappropriate content on the Internet is a huge barrier to wholesale adoption of the technology.

[13] According to a report by Akamai Technologies in August 2017, Qatar ranked first in the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region in broadband connection speeds, and seventh globally.

"[18] The last chapter of the law covers offenses and penalties—mostly having to do with penalties that violate the previously mentioned articles, privacy, or security.

Businesses within the State of Qatar are prohibited from selling VoIP calls or services to the public without a license issued by ictQATAR.

A U.S. State Department Human Rights report said that the government of Qatar censors the Internet through a proxy server that monitors and blocks Web sites, e-mail, and chat rooms through the state-owned ISP.

[20] Qatar filters pornography, political criticism of Gulf countries, gay and lesbian content, sexual health resources, dating and escort services, and privacy and circumvention tools.

[22] The government of Qatar has imposed a recent amendment to the penal code which furthermore regulates freedom of speech and expression.

Article 136 (bis), by Emir Tamim bin Hamid Al Thani, authorizes the imprisonment of anyone who facilitates the spread of fake news online.

[23] Portions of this article were adapted from the OpenNet Initiative country profile for Qatar under a Creative Commons Attribution license (CC-BY).