The Paris prosecutor’s office announced this Wednesday, December 4 that the businesswoman filed a complaint for complicity in aggravated moral harassment, accusing the X platform of having knowingly continued to give Booba access to its services, “thus allowing him to harass her.”
This time, it is the X platform (formerly Twitter) which is at the heart of Magali Berdah’s legal troubles. A Parisian investigating judge has been investigating accusations since July against the social network for complicity in aggravated moral harassment after a complaint from the former influencer popess, the Paris prosecutor’s office announced this Wednesday, December 4.
The businesswoman, in conflict with the rapper Booba, indicted since October 2023 in another case in Paris for cyberharassment against him, accuses the social network of having knowingly continued to give the artist access to its services, “thus allowing him to harass her”according to a source close to the matter.
Criminal liability of platforms
Magali Berdah had already filed a complaint in April 2023, but the preliminary investigation opened by the Paris prosecutor’s office had been closed, “on the grounds that no offense was sufficiently serious”explained the public prosecutor.
In November 2023, she filed a complaint again, this time with a civil party, and obtained referral to an investigating magistrate. This judicial information must allow “up to justice to assess the role of platform X in the cyberharassment suffered by Magali Berdah and to rule on the criminal liability of the platforms”estimated the plaintiff’s lawyers, Antonin Gravelin-Rodriguez, Rachel-Flore Pardo and Elie Touitou.
The period covered by Magali Berdah’s complaint extends before and after the purchase of the platform by American billionaire Elon Musk. But critics accusing the network of serving as an echo chamber for online hate and harassment didn’t wait for this change in ownership. The social network is notably accused by the complainant of having ignored alerts sent on the moderation platform or formal notices issued by its lawyers, according to the source close to the case.
In civil matters, Twitter was notably taken to court in France by six associations from 2020, and ordered in March 2023 by the Court of Cassation to detail its means of combating online hatred. However, it is rare for proceedings for cases of online harassment to go as far as the French criminal justice system.
Since its acquisition by Elon Musk, accusations linked to the lack of moderation of the social network have multiplied. According to the Australian regulator, the new owner of the network has fired some 1,200 people responsible for moderating content.
