Three Algerian influencers have been arrested in recent days after making threats on social networks, calling for terrorist acts and attacking those who criticize the Algerian government. A complicated file, from TikTok to France-Algeria diplomatic relations, currently very tense. Explanations.
Three Algerian influencers have been arrested in recent days in France, after broadcasting videos on their social networks calling for violence. It’s a complex issue that goes from TikTok to very tense diplomatic relations between France and Algeria
Who are the protagonists?
The three individuals arrested are not just TikTokers. They were arrested in turn in Brest, Echirolles near Grenoble and Montpellier.
The first is Youcef A., Zazou Youcef by his nickname on the networks. He is due to be tried on February 24 for condoning an act of terrorism. Arriving in France in 2020, he received a residence permit in 2023, he had a child with a French woman. But this title was not renewed. And for good reason: he was arrested for having participated in the riots after Nahel's death.
Imad Ould Brahim, who calls himself Imad Tintin or “Blédar de luxe” on social networks, will be tried in immediate appearance this Monday for “direct provocation to an act of terrorism”. He is known to the courts for driving without a license. It is also the subject of an OQTF, but requests for consular passes made to Algeria have remained a dead letter.
The last one whose arrest we learned of in Montpellier on Sunday evening calls himself “Ami Boualem”. The Hérault prefecture ensures that it is studying the possibility of withdrawing his residence permit and issuing an OQTF against him.
The three protagonists risk seven years of imprisonment and a fine of 100,000 euros.
The complicated file by Matthieu Belliard: Who are the Algerian influencers arrested in France? – 06/01
What are they accused of?
On December 31, from Brest, Zazou Youcef published a video on TikTok in which he called for attacks in France and violence in Algeria. He calls for “raping” on French soil any individual who opposes Algerian power. With vehemence, he speaks in Arabic with French subtitles. “We're going to do you like in the nineties. We're going to shoot you” miming a throat-slitting gesture on the video. Followed by hundreds of thousands of subscribers, he was spotted and arrested on Friday morning and then placed in detention.
The Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau reacted immediately and promised that the influencer “will have to answer for his actions before the courts”.
Imad Tintin was arrested the same evening in Echirolles in the suburbs of Grenoble. He also called for violence and expressed his support for the former in a video seen more than 800,000 times. He called for “burning alive, killing and raping on French soil.” At his home, the police found sets used in the video. He is being prosecuted for “direct provocation to an act of terrorism”.
The third “Ami Boualem” is also a TikToker who has 138,000 subscribers. He was reported by the Mayor of Montpellier and the prefect of Hérault after making “anti-Semitic comments” in a video, he “advocates torture” and targets an Algerian opponent in France: “Kill him , let him suffer.”
Algerian politics
In this file, it is mainly a question of Algerian politics. The opponent targeted by “Ami Boualem” is called Chawki Benzehra. He is a political refugee in France, he fled Algeria after demonstrating against the power in 2019. Quoted by AFP, he assures that these influencers have joined “the war waged in France by the Algerian regime” which seems to mobilize online.
Moreover, those close to the Ministry of the Interior let it be known that “the intelligence services are studying these matters very closely”.
Tense relations between Paris and Algiers
These cases come as relations between France and Algeria have recently become strained. The relationship has always been complex, but particularly since France took Morocco's side in the territorial conflict between the two Maghreb countries over the question of Western Sahara.
This is another complicated issue but recent months have been marked by the French president's trip to Morocco with great fanfare, by Algeria's recall of its ambassador to Paris or by the arrest of the Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal.
Asked about the fate of the latter yesterday, Jean-Noël Barrot, the Minister of Foreign Affairs expressed “doubts” on Sunday about Algiers' desire to respect the road map of Franco-Algerian bilateral relations. In diplomatic language, that means things are not going well.
The Algerian government is in a communications war with Paris. In December, state television broadcast a documentary that accused French intelligence of plotting with Islamists in Algeria.
At the time of Boualem Sansal's arrest, the Algerian press agency stated that Paris is plagued by an “anti-Algerian” and “pro-Zionist” lobby. “Macronito-Zionist France (…) is offended by the arrest of Sansal at Algiers airport.”
