Police arrest dozens of teenage TikTokkers

Egyptian police have arrested dozens of teenage TikTokkers, accusing them of crimes ranging from indecency to money laundering, reports Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The police also confiscated their devices, froze their assets and imposed travel bans on them. If authorities find even a single post they consider indecent, they can declare the influencers' income illegal and charge them with financial crimes. Mariam Ayman, a 19-year-old with more than 9.4m followers under the name Suzy El Ordonia, has been jailed since 2 August. She faces charges of distributing indecent content and laundering 15m Egyptian pounds ($470 000). The Interior Ministry said she was arrested after the authorities received complaints about her posts. In its latest quarterly report, TikTok says it removed more than 2.9mvideos in Egypt based on its own community guidelines. Her interviewer, podcaster Mohamed Abdel Aaty, was also arrested. In Egypt, traditional media is largely controlled by the state, meaning social media has been one of the few alternatives for free speech. The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) urged the Interior Ministry to halt ‘an aggressive security campaign’ this month. It has described its morality provisions as vague, explaining that the prosecutions rely on a broadly worded article of a 2018 cybercrime law that criminalises infringing on ‘any of the principles or family values in Egyptian society’, said EIPR lawyer Lobna Darwish.

Australia Broadcasting Corporation