The authorities accused the London-based broadcaster of undermining its "sovereignty and existence and violated a prior agreement with the Somaliland government, leading to the revocation of its operating license.

"As of today, 12 February, 2025, after carefully studying how blatantly Universal TV violated the sovereignty  and existence of Somaliland, we have withdrawn their operating license  in Somaliland” Somaliland’s information ministry said.

The move marks a fresh crackdown on the media in Somaliland, which has long sought international recognition.

The ban follows after the television aired a report entitlled "The Somali government has given an unexpected response to the abusive step taken by the United Arab Emirates government” after UAE invited Somaliland president, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdillahi Irro as head of state to the World Government Summit in Dubai from the 11th to the 13th of this month.  The summit was attended by leaders from over 30 countries, focusing on global economic development, good governance, and modern technology.

Somaliland uses the outdated Somalia's penal code which criminalizes the media work, thus leading the media and the journalists to face legal harrasment, imprisonment or banning the media only to control the narrative and silence the critics.