Fact-Checking Policy

Most of what Arab Times UAE publishes is a rule, a number or a deadline that a reader may act on. This is how we check those before publication.

Before an article is published

Every regulatory claim is traced to the authority that issued it. A visa rule is checked against ICP or the relevant emirate's GDRFA; a labour rule against MoHRE; a fine against the issuing police or transport authority; a banking or remittance rule against the Central Bank of the UAE; a tax rule against the Federal Tax Authority. Where the source is a government circular or press release, we link to it.

Numbers are checked individually. Fees, fines, salary thresholds, compensation limits, deadlines and durations are each verified against the source document, not carried over from another news report.

Dates are checked. A rule that took effect in a previous year is not reported as new. Where a change has an effective date, we state it.

Second-hand reports are treated as leads, not facts. A claim circulating on WhatsApp, social media or an aggregator site is a reason to check, never a reason to publish.

Images are checked. We verify that a photograph shows what we say it shows, and we do not use an unrelated image to illustrate a specific incident.

What we will not publish

• A rule change we cannot find in any official source
• A figure whose origin we cannot identify
• A viral claim we have not been able to verify, unless we are reporting on the claim itself and say clearly that it is unverified

When a story is developing

For fast-moving events, we publish what we have verified and label clearly what is not yet confirmed. As facts are established, the article is updated and the update is dated at the foot of the piece.

When we get it wrong

We correct it, openly and on the article. See our Corrections Policy.

Fact-checking is overseen by Lov Singh, Founder and Chief Editor. Queries: hello@gulfhindi.com.