News

Instagram Music Is Finally Available In The Middle East

Published

6 years ago

March 9, 2021

instagram music is finally available in the middle east

In 2018, Instagram launched an exciting new feature called Instagram Music. The feature gives users the ability to add music to photos and videos in their Instagram stories. Instagram clearly understands that some things are best said with music, so after years of waiting, the company has made Instagram Music available in the Middle East.

The delay was primarily due to music licensing deals. Instagram is legally required to purchase a license for all the music in order for users to use them within Instagram stories. These music licensing deals are geo-restricted, so Instagram can’t offer the feature to countries they have not obtained a license for.

When the feature was first introduced, it was only available in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, New Zealand, Sweden, Canada, Australia, and France. So users who were not from these specific countries typically got the famous “Instagram Music isn’t available in your region” message when they scrolled through Instagram stories of people who had this feature.

“For that reason, we’ve been working with creators and music partners around the world to help people connect and share how they feel through music across the Facebook family of apps. We see music as a core part of the future of entertainment on Facebook and Instagram. Now there are even more ways for people to create and discover content they’ll love.” said Facebook in a written statement.

Also Read: How To Find & Cancel Pending Instagram Requests

To enjoy this feature, simply open your Instagram app, swipe right, and create a new story. After that, tap on the sticker icon or swipe up. Once this is done, you’ll find an icon that is titled “Music”. You should then be able to choose any of the available songs to add to your story. You can select a part or segment of a song to use in your story. When displaying song lyrics, you’ll have the freedom to change the style, font, color, and size of the text appearing on screen.

News

Microsoft Plans $10 Billion-Plus Gulf Expansion Despite Iran Conflict

Security is shaping Microsoft’s approach, from resilience work with governments to what it will say about how the money splits by country.

Published

4 days ago

September 24, 2026

Nour Nasir

Microsoft

Microsoft is planning more than $10 billion of investment across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait through 2030, Vice Chair and President Brad Smith told Reuters, calling the spending schedule aggressive. The Iranian conflict that began on February 28 has not persuaded the company to scale back.

“We’re sustaining all the investments we planned to make before this conflict started, and we are in fact adding to them,” Smith said. The $10 billion-plus total does not, however, show how large those additions are.

The investment, which Smith described as part of Microsoft’s continued infrastructure expansion, is aimed at cloud and AI infrastructure and at the company’s growing regional operations. Microsoft also intends to put more than $400 million into subsea and terrestrial connectivity across the Middle East by 2030.

The spending fits the region’s own ambitions too. Gulf governments have been investing heavily in AI infrastructure as part of a push to diversify their economies beyond oil and gas and turn themselves into global technology hubs. Major cloud and AI providers have been drawn in part by the land and relatively low-cost energy on offer.

Microsoft is widening its partnerships with regional AI companies, though not on identical terms. In 2024, it invested $1.5 billion in Abu Dhabi-based G42 for a minority stake, and Smith currently sits on G42’s board. Saudi Arabia’s Humain and Qatar’s Qai are working with Microsoft on selected priority areas, but Smith said the company does not plan to make capital investments in either.

Also Read: Egypt’s Mobile Wallets Are Booming, But Cash Still Has Power

The conflict has added another strand to Microsoft’s work in the region. Since it began, Smith said, the company has supported regional partners with digital resilience assessments, and it is now working with Gulf countries through a digital resilience initiative focused on preparedness and the protection of critical data.

So far, the company has given no country-by-country breakdown of the investment, citing security among other factors. So while the headline figure is public, how Microsoft divides the spending among the four countries is not.