“You can't stop people from writing online. It's easy to regulate the press because 1) the press needs big expensive machines to print newspapers. 2) they need trucks to distribute. 3) they need shops to sell their papers. 4) they need advertisers to pay for all the above. 5) they are a business, and hence they need to make money. The government subsidizes the press both directly and indirectly. The newspaper owners would rather make money than be on the government's bad side, hence there is no freedom of press in Oman. In fact, even if the government allowed the press to write anything they want the will probably still self-censor themselves,” Muscati said.