A Franco-Algerian influencer, whose TikTok videos considered hateful had been reported to the courts, is currently in police custody, Lyon public prosecutor Thierry Dran said this Thursday, January 9. This is Sofia Benlemmane, said the head of the Lyon public prosecutor’s office, who opened two criminal investigations on Wednesday against Franco-Algerian influencers, notably for “death threats and public incitement to hatred.”
Sofia Benlemmane had been in the sights of the authorities for several days for having posted hateful videos that were widely relayed. The influencer, as well as two other Franco-Algerians in the Lyon region, had been reported by the Rhône prefecture, declared the prefect of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Fabienne Buccio, on Monday. According to his services, these were influencers supposed to reside in or around Lyon who published “more or less recently” videos on the accounts “Abdesslam Bazooka”, “Laksas06” and, therefore, Sofia Benlemmane.
Followed by hundreds of thousands of people, the latter is notably criticized for a live on TikTok produced in September in which she copiously insults another woman in Arabic by throwing at her “This whore who dirties Islam deserves to die.” In a video in Arabic published on December 10, Abdesslam Bazooka attacked opponents of the Algerian government, whom he describes as “traitors” and threatens to“cut throat”. Laksas06 for his part took up on December 11 an audio from another Franco-Algerian in which he presents the members of the Algerian diaspora in France as “sleeping soldiers” ready to become “martyrs”.
The accounts of the three influencers have “been permanently suspended for violating our community rules”TikTok had announced by committing to “maintain a safe and welcoming environment for its community”.
Update at 5:45 p.m., added context.
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