Qatar introduces stricter penalties for unauthorised pictures beneath Cybercrime Law

The change, launched by Law No. 11 of 2025, printed within the Official Gazette on 4 August, provides article 8 (bis) to the present Cybercrime Law No. 14 of 2014, and imposes penalties of as much as one yr imprisonment and a high quality of QR100,000 (approx. US$27,000) for violations.

The new article criminalises the publication or circulation of photographs or video clips of people with out their consent, even when captured in public areas. This consists of on-line dissemination and applies no matter whether or not the topic was conscious that they had been being recorded. The modification considerably expands the scope of Qatar’s privateness protections, which beforehand targeted on safeguarding non-public or household life from media publicity. Now, even informal or incidental recordings in public settings could also be topic to authorized scrutiny.

Sarah Khasawneh, a authorized professional at Pinsent Masons in Qatar, stated: “This development has wide-reaching implications for businesses and individuals alike. Entities involved in photography or videography, such as marketing agencies, event organisers and media outlets, must now reassess their content capture protocols.” 

“Social media influencers and content creators who frequently post public content may face legal risks if they do not obtain consent. Even retail and hospitality venues that rely on promotional photography must implement clear consent mechanisms,” she stated.

Organisations will now want to take a look at how they seize and use photographs – each in their very own premises or in public areas – and set up they’ll successfully safe and supply proof of consent. A key step will probably be updating privateness documentation and coaching workers on the brand new restrictions.

Based on the challenges of securing consent, significantly at massive, public, occasions, varied threat mitigation measures can even must be taken by organisations within the nation, together with: clear consent language on tickets; seen signage at occasions or venues; establishing verbal or written consent for close-up or identifiable content material; blurring or anonymizing faces in crowd scenes; and avoiding filming minors or susceptible people with out documented approval, Khasawneh stated.