The article is aimed at studying changes in the public policy of Middle Eastern and North African countries on the media, which occurred after the Arab Spring. The research was conducted using the methods of comparative and critical discourse analysis. The conducted comparative analysis, which involved a comparison of situations in different North African countries, allowed the typological features of the Arab information society to be identified. Critical discourse analysis was used to examine the information policy applied in different Arab countries. Our analysis showed that the changes that had taken place led to the introduction of stricter restrictions on the media both in direct and indirect ways. A conclusion is made about extremely ambiguous and complex prospects of relations between the media and governments in the Arab world. Following a review of available publicatons on the topic, both advantages and limitations of the new media are formulated. The article may be of interest to political scientists, Orientalist scholars, journalists and representatives of related fields.