Online mob jailed for cyberbullying social media star
Controversial rapper whipped up those who targeted the ‘queen of influencers’ Magali Berdah
A PARIS court has jailed an online mob for cyberbullying France’s “queen of influencers” in a landmark case.
The group of 28 perpetrators, aged between 20 and 49, were handed sentences ranging from four to 18 months – half of them suspended – for the online harassment of Magali Berdah, who has built a prominent career in France as a lifestyle and fashion expert, while also marketing other social media stars through her company, Shauna Events.
Each of them “knew about the cyberbullying suffered by the victim and made a conscious choice to join in with it”, the court found. Their actions had “real consequences” on Berdah’s mental health, the judges added. The plaintiff had told the court that she had come “within a whisker of throwing (herself) out the window”.
“Finally, I’ve been recognised as a victim,” she told reporters on Tuesday. “My life was destroyed for two years because of this. It’s a beautiful victory.”
The convictions prove “no one is safe behind their keyboard”, said David-olivier Kaminski, Ms Berdah’s lawyer.
Ms Berdah was targeted by controversial rapper Booba, who regularly tops the charts in France. In 2022, he launched a campaign against influ-voleurs (influ-thieves), a term he coined, training his ire on Ms Berdah.
“Apart from having no talent, from promoting vacuous culture, of being idiots and not paying their taxes in France, they’re ripping people off,” he told French newspaper Liberation.
Politicians waded in, with Bruno Le Maire, the finance minister, last year telling France Info that Booba was “right to point out that there are excesses [among certain influencers]”. Ms Berdah denied wrongdoing and filed a complaint for online harassment leading to the trial.
Booba, notorious for a 2018 brawl at a Paris airport with his former protege Kaaris, for which each received an 18-month suspended sentence, has since been charged with aggravated harassment. The rapper is accused of “at least 487 messages on social networks” aimed “directly” at Ms Berdah between May 2022 and May 2023. While he was not among those sentenced on Tuesday, the court found that the cyberbullying was a result of Booba’s posts, Ms Berdah’s lawyers said in a statement. He denies being at the helm of an online “mob”.
Ms Berdah herself faces trial in Nice in September for bankruptcy and money laundering. Her company is also being investigated for fraud. “Nothing can justify cyberbullying, especially not the behaviour of the person targeted,” said Rachel-flore Pardo, another of Berdah’s lawyers.
Last year, French MPS adopted new legislation threatening influencers with up to two years in jail or major fines for undeclared advertising or fraud. The law was an attempt to stamp out a wave of online scams in which influencers persuaded their followers to part with savings for miracle cancer cures or other fake products.
It obliges them to post the word “advertising” or “commercial partnership” when discussing products they have been paid to advertise and make a formal contract mandatory.
It prohibits the promotion of cosmetic surgery, tobacco and some financial products and medical devices.
It also tightens rules for promoting sports betting and lottery games, which will be restricted to platforms that can prohibit access to minors such as Youtube. Violators of the rules face punishments of up to two years in prison and €300,000 fines.
France is estimated to have around 150,000 influencers, many of whom have a modest audience, but some have millions of subscribers and help set trends in sectors from fashion to video games.