Brooke George has been charged with murder in the UAE, but says she acted in self-defence. Her case highlights the dark side of influencer culture in the region
As an influencer with almost 100,000 followers on TikTok, Brooke George shares glimpses into her life as a 23-year-old: videos showing nights out, beauty routines and light-hearted lip-syncs. But now the former John Lewis assistant from Gravesend in Kent is facing the death penalty in Dubai, after being charged with murdering a man she met online.
George, however, claims that she acted in self-defence after being repeatedly assaulted. “It’s really concerning that she may be a domestic violence victim and is also being treated badly within the prison system over there,” says Radha Stirling, chief executive of Detained in Dubai, an organisation that provides assistance to foreigners dealing with legal injustice in the United Arab Emirates.
The risks for young influencers
It is the latest incident, Stirling argues, to illustrate the risks faced by young influencers who are being lured over to the Emirates with promises of dazzling lifestyles and opportunities to boost their social media careers – only to face possible sexual exploitation or violence.
“We’ve got a lot of examples of the abuse of females who are going to Dubai, and at the same time, we’ve got the UAE government saying, ‘this is the safest place in the whole world – there’s zero crime here,'” she says.
What happened
George is thought to have met the man on Facebook, and their relationship developed online. He invited her out to Dubai, and paid for her flights – she even told her family how happy she was, and that she was “having the time of her life”.
But when he asked her to visit a second time, things changed, according to George’s account. She alleges that he became cold and controlling, and she eventually learned that he had only bought her a one-way flight. George claims that he attacked her in a car after they spent the evening at a bar, then continued to assault her once they returned to his apartment.
She maintains that he took her passport, then punched her when she begged for it to be returned; she says she then stabbed him with a kitchen knife in self-defence, before immediately heading to the airport to attempt to return to the UK.
Arrest and charges
It was there that she was arrested, with the police charging her with premeditated murder, a crime that carries the death penalty by firing squad in Dubai. George was taken to the Bur Dubai Police Station, where she alleges she had to strip naked in front of a male officer, was told to make a statement without a lawyer and was not allowed to contact her embassy.
The Dubai dream’s dark side
Social media has long helped to craft and disseminate the fantasy of the “Dubai dream”, with photogenic influencers presenting a glamorous, sun-soaked lifestyle. The UAE offers a so-called “golden visa” for content creators, offering them long-term residency for up to 10 years.
But there is a dark side. There are extensive reports of young women being lured out to the Emirates for influencer work or modelling opportunities, only to become embroiled in exploitation. “They’re told that they’re coming over for a particular job, and they end up essentially being sold or exploited, drugged or raped,” Stirling says.
A call for government warnings
Stirling is hopeful that George will receive bail, and will “be given proper due process”. But she also thinks that it is time for “more government warnings” about the alleged wider culture of exploitation of British women in Dubai. “It’s going to end up a national scandal when we actually learn about the numbers of people who have been abused out there.”
