Senegal Jails Three TikTok Influencers

A Senegalese court has sentenced three TikTok influencers to prison after finding them guilty of insulting President Bassirou Diomaye Faye through videos posted on the social media platform.

The three men, who work for online media platform Feenal Digital, were convicted over content that prosecutors said insulted the president. Their lawyer argued that the videos were intended as comedy and should not have led to criminal prosecution.

Mandoumbe Diop, widely known as Lamignou Darou, received a three-month prison sentence without suspension. He is the best-known of the three, with more than 500,000 followers on TikTok, where his videos regularly attract tens of thousands of views.

Magueye Diaw, known as Oustaz Thiep, and Moustapha Ndiaye, known as Ndiaye Touba, were each sentenced to two months in prison without suspension. The court also fined each of them 500,000 CFA francs, about $800.

Feenal Digital is known for producing online content that some observers say supports former Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko, whose political split with President Faye has reshaped Senegal’s political landscape. Government officials had not publicly commented on the ruling at the time of reporting.

SOURCE: Reuters