Al-Hudood ( The Limits or The Borders) is a satirical Arabic news publication founded July 2013. It originally focused on satirical journalism in Jordan, and came to encompass news from the Arab world and from around the world, working with Arab writers and cartoonists from different parts of the Middle East and North Africa. History Isam Uraiqat, a Jordanian journalist of Palestinian heritage, co-founded Al-Hudood in Jordan in 2013. Though Al-Hudood is based in Jordan, its focus has expanded to include the Middle East and North Africa and the Arab world in general. Organization The website's team is composed of 7 full-time and 2 part-time employees, and about 20 freelance writers and 10 interns. Alhudood currently operates through grants, and it currently is funded from a grant by the European Endowment for Democracy, Open Society Foundations, and the Heinrich Boell Foundation, with a number of other funders now being interested in funding it for the coming future. Controversy With the strong restrictions on freedom of speech in the region, Alhudood took advantage of the flexibility and freedom that satire provides, and became an alternative media outlet that discusses various important and sensitive regional issues. It tackles such issues without having to adhere to the limitations imposed on traditional media by authority and society due to the nature of fiction. Alhudood has tackled issues of human rights, corruption, freedom of speech, gender equality and good governance, and portrays these themes in a manner that could be related to by readers from across the region, from an open, secular perspective, highlighting personal freedoms, freedom of speech, and feminism, using a darker, critical lens. Especially after the political change that swept through the Arab world in 2011, the youth in the region have become either apathetic to politics, or engaged in current sectarian and political polarization, in both cases leading to a growing disinterest in political and social dialogue. Even though it's an explicitly satirical network, Al-Hudood creates a substantial amount of controversy, particularly when the article crosses the three red lines: politics, religion, and sex. Some of its most controversial articles include: Santa Claus arrested in Jabal Amman; all gifts confiscated A number of major Jordanian news sources believed Al-Hudood's satirical story of Santa Claus's arrest, copying the article and publishing it as their own. Ad-Dustour printed the story in its newspapers such as Iram and Al-Watan, which led the Jordanian Public