The United Arab Emirates paid a reputation management firm more than $6 million between 2020 and 2022 to suppress online visibility of a news article about alleged ties between the country's Washington ambassador and sex workers, according to a New York Times investigation that reveals sophisticated digital manipulation tactics.
The campaign targeted a 2017 Intercept article about Ambassador Yousef al-Otaiba, a prominent figure in Washington diplomatic and social circles. By 2023, the story had dropped from Google's first page to page two; today it languishes on page five for most users—a dramatic shift that raises serious questions about digital transparency and the ability of wealthy actors to reshape information landscapes.
In the Emirates, as across the Gulf, ambitious visions drive rapid transformation—turning desert into global business hubs. But this investigation reveals how that same ambition and resources extend to controlling digital narratives about the country's representatives abroad.
Sophisticated Digital Strategy
The UAE engaged Syracuse-based firm Terakeet beginning in July 2019, ostensibly for tourism promotion and search engine optimization. But according to four former Terakeet employees interviewed by the Times, a specialized team worked specifically to push the damaging Intercept story off Google's first page of search results for queries about al-Otaiba.
The operation's manager, Kenneth Schiefer, relocated from Syracuse to Washington for more than a year to work directly with the ambassador at the UAE embassy—without leaving a digital trail of emails or text messages, according to the investigation.
This physical presence reflected the campaign's sensitivity and the premium placed on operational security. For a diplomatic mission representing a country that positions itself as a modern, transparent partner to Western democracies, the lengths taken to avoid documentation suggest awareness that the tactics might prove controversial if exposed.
