Facebook, which is currently being sued over an allegedly botched IPO, is set to open an office in the global city of Dubai next week, right near the nameless body of water featured on Google Maps, which Iran points out as being called the Persian Gulf. The Dubai office will be the first location where the social network has set up shop in the Middle East region, and will open on May 30th.
More details on the office will be conveyed during a press event on the 30th, which will add to Facebook’s roughly 30 global hubs. Facebook, along with other social media platforms, was an integral tool for coordinating the pro-democracy Arab Spring protests taking place in the region last year – and the social network also inadvertently landed two Tunisians in prison after they’d insulted the prophet Muhammad on their Timelines.
Dubai City has evolved into a global business hub, after getting its start via oil revenues. Primary revenues presently come from tourism, real estate, and financial services. The city of over 1.7 million features, the world’s tallest building, the world’s largest mall, man-made islands and an indoor ski resort in the middle of a desert climate.
Here’s a look at the artificial islands of Dubai: