Privacy Policy

The Next Dubai is a Dubai-based independent digital news and media publication covering news, lifestyle, business, travel, culture, and events in Dubai and across the GCC region. We publish editorial content for a general audience and fund our journalism in part through advertising.

For the purposes of data protection law, The Next Dubai is the data controller responsible for the personal information described in this policy. We handle personal data in line with UAE Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021 on the Protection of Personal Data, and, where they apply to our readers, the EU and UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act as amended (CCPA/CPRA).

• Website: www.thenextdubai.com
• General email: info@thenextdubai.com
• Privacy and data requests: info@thenextdubai.com
• Location: 1905 Apartment, The Atria Residences, Business Bay, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

a) Information You Provide Directly

We may collect personal information when you subscribe to our email newsletter, submit a contact or enquiry form, comment on articles, apply for a featured listing or partnership, or participate in a survey or promotion. This may include your name, email address, phone number, and any other details you voluntarily submit.

b) Information Collected Automatically

When you visit our Website, we automatically collect certain technical and behavioral data, including: IP address and approximate geographic location, browser type, device type, and operating system, pages visited and time spent on each page, navigation behavior and scroll patterns, referring URL (how you arrived at our site), and date and time of your visit. This data is collected through cookies, web beacons, and analytics tools.

We use the information we collect to operate, maintain, and improve the Website; deliver newsletters and email updates to subscribers; respond to reader enquiries and correspondence; analyze traffic and reading behavior to improve our journalism and content quality; detect and prevent fraudulent or abusive activity; comply with legal obligations; and serve advertisements through third-party advertising networks.

We do not sell your personal data for money. Please note that under the California Consumer Privacy Act as amended by the CPRA, allowing advertising partners to use cookies for personalized advertising can be treated as “sharing” personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. You can stop this at any time using the opt-out links in the advertising section below.

Where the GDPR applies to you, we rely on the following legal bases to process your personal data:

• Consent – for non-essential cookies, personalized advertising, and sending you our newsletter. You can withdraw consent at any time.
• Legitimate interests – for operating and securing the Website, understanding which articles our readers value, and preventing fraud and abuse. We balance these interests against your rights.
• Legal obligation – where we are required to retain or disclose information under applicable law.

As a news publication, some of our processing also supports journalistic activity, which receives specific recognition under data protection law.

Our Website uses cookies — small text files stored on your device — to enhance your browsing experience, remember your preferences, and understand how visitors use our site.

Types of Cookies We Use

• Essential Cookies: Required for basic site functionality
• Analytics Cookies: Help us understand visitor behavior (e.g., Google Analytics)
• Advertising Cookies: Used to serve relevant advertisements

You can disable cookies at any time through your browser settings. Please note that disabling cookies may affect the functionality of certain features on our Website.

The Next Dubai participates in the Google AdSense program, which helps fund our editorial work. The following disclosures are made in accordance with the Google AdSense Program Policies:

• Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this Website or other websites.
• Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visit to our site and/or other sites on the internet.
• You may opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings.
• You may also opt out of a third-party vendor's use of cookies for personalized advertising by visiting aboutads.info/choices or the NAI opt-out tool.

Full details of how Google uses information from sites that use its services are available at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites and policies.google.com/technologies/ads.

How Advertising Cookies Work on This Site

Our third-party advertising partners may use cookies, JavaScript, or web beacons in the advertisements and links that appear on The Next Dubai. These are sent directly to your browser, which automatically provides your IP address when this occurs. These technologies are used to measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns and, where permitted, to personalize the advertising you see.

The Next Dubai has no access to or control over cookies used by third-party advertisers. Advertising is handled entirely separately from our newsroom, and advertisers have no influence over our editorial coverage.

If you are located in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, data protection law and Google's EU User Consent Policy require that we obtain your consent before non-essential cookies are placed on your device or your personal data is used for personalized advertising.

Where consent is required and has not been given, advertising served on this Website should be limited to non-personalized ads, which still use a cookie for frequency capping, aggregated ad reporting and fraud prevention, but do not use your data to build an advertising profile.

You have the right to withdraw or change your advertising consent at any time. You can do so through the cookie controls described in our Cookies Policy, through your browser settings, or by writing to us at info@thenextdubai.com. Google maintains a list of the advertising technology providers that may receive data through its platforms at support.google.com/admanager/answer/9012903.

We use the following measurement tools to understand how our journalism is read and to improve the Website:

• Google Analytics 4, deployed through Google Site Kit, which reports on traffic volumes, pages viewed, time on page and general audience location. You can prevent Google Analytics from using your data by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.
• Google Search Console, which reports on how our pages appear in Google Search. It does not identify individual readers.
• Meta Pixel, which measures the performance of content and campaigns distributed through Facebook and Instagram. You can manage this through your Facebook ad preferences and your browser cookie settings.

Pages on this Website also embed content from third-party platforms such as Instagram and YouTube. When such content loads, those platforms may set their own cookies and receive your IP address. Their use of that data is governed by their own privacy policies, not ours.

The Next Dubai follows standard practice in using log files. These files record visitor activity when users visit websites. Information collected in log files includes IP addresses, browser type, Internet Service Provider (ISP), date and time stamp, referring and exit pages, and number of clicks. This data is not linked to personally identifiable information and is used to analyze trends, administer the site, and gather demographic data.

Our Privacy Policy does not apply to third-party advertisers, analytics providers, or other external services linked on or integrated into our Website. We encourage you to consult the respective privacy policies of these third parties for more detailed information. The Next Dubai bears no responsibility for the privacy practices of these external parties.

We share personal data only with the following categories of recipient:

• Hosting and infrastructure providers that operate the servers and content delivery for this Website.
• Analytics and measurement providers, as described in the Analytics and Measurement section above.
• Advertising partners, including Google, as described in the advertising sections above.
• Email and newsletter platforms used to deliver updates you have subscribed to.
• Legal and regulatory authorities, where disclosure is required by law, court order or regulation, or is necessary to protect our rights or the safety of others.

We do not sell your personal data. Service providers acting on our behalf are permitted to use your information only to deliver the service we have engaged them for, and are required to protect it to a standard equivalent to our own.

The Next Dubai operates from the United Arab Emirates, and the service providers described above may store or process data in other countries, including within the European Union and the United States. Where personal data of readers in the EEA or the UK is transferred outside those regions, we rely on the safeguards offered by those providers, such as the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses or an applicable adequacy decision. You may contact us at info@thenextdubai.com for more information about the safeguards that apply.

We keep personal data only for as long as it is needed for the purpose it was collected for:

• Newsletter subscriptions – until you unsubscribe, after which your address is removed from our active list.
• Enquiries and correspondence – normally up to 24 months after our last exchange with you.
• Analytics data – retained according to the retention settings of the analytics provider, typically no more than 14 months in aggregated form.
• Server log files – typically retained for a short technical period for security and troubleshooting.

Where we are required by law to retain information for longer, we will do so, and we will delete or anonymise data once the retention period ends.

Under the GDPR (readers in the EEA and the UK)

• Right of access — request a copy of the data we hold about you
• Right to rectification — request correction of inaccurate data
• Right to erasure — request deletion of your data
• Right to restriction — request that we limit how we process your data
• Right to data portability — request your data in a portable format
• Right to object — object to processing based on our legitimate interests, including profiling for advertising
• Right to withdraw consent at any time, without affecting processing carried out before you withdrew it
• Right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection supervisory authority, or with the UK Information Commissioner's Office

Under the CCPA and CPRA (California residents)

• Right to know what personal information has been collected, used and disclosed
• Right to request deletion of your personal information
• Right to correct inaccurate personal information
• Right to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising
• Right to limit the use of sensitive personal information
• Right not to be discriminated against for exercising any of these rights

Under UAE Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021

• Right to request information about how your data is processed, and to obtain a copy of it
• Right to request correction, deletion or restriction of processing
• Right to object to processing and to withdraw consent
• Right to request that your data be transferred to another controller

To exercise any of these rights, email info@thenextdubai.com with the subject line “Data Request.” We will verify your request and respond within 30 days. There is no charge for making a request.

The Next Dubai is not directed at children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If we become aware that a child under 13 has provided personal data, we will delete it promptly. If you believe a child has submitted personal information to us, please contact info@thenextdubai.com.

We implement reasonable and appropriate technical and organizational security measures to protect your personal data against unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. However, no method of internet transmission is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. Updates will be posted on this page with a revised ‘Last Updated’ date. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy, please contact us:

• Email: info@thenextdubai.com
• Website: www.thenextdubai.com