French police arrest three Algerians in crackdown on social media influencers
PARIS (AP) — A police dragnet in France has swept up three Algerian men described by authorities as social media influencers accused of posting videos inciting violence, against a backdrop of soured relations between Paris and its former colony in North Africa.
French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau announced the latest arrest Sunday evening — the third in as many days. A French media report that the minister attached to his post on X said the influencer posted a video to his 138,000 followers on TikTok that French authorities deemed anti-Semitic.
It was not immediately clear whether all arrested were Algerian citizens living in France.
The arrests in the Alpine city of Grenoble, Montpellier in southern France and the port city of Brest in the west come amid renewed turbulence in the often complicated relationship between France and Algeria, which shook off French rule in 1962 after a brutal war.
A shift last July in France’s decades-old position on the disputed Western Sahara region of northern Africa angered Algeria and prompted the withdrawal of its ambassador in Paris.
The French government, meanwhile, has denounced Algeria’s detention since November of French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal. The 75-year-old author is an outspoken critic of the Algerian government.
The French government hasn’t linked the tensions with Algiers to the three arrests. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said Sunday that France wants “the best relations” with Algeria. But he said Paris has doubts about the Algerian government’s commitment to deals agreed in 2022 that were seen as important steps toward mending their relationship.
The first Algerian influencer arrested, a 25-year-old who reportedly had more than 400,000 followers on TikTok before his account was closed down, was detained Friday on suspicion of having made comments that expressed sympathy for terrorism. Retailleau said the influencer had called on followers to carry out attacks in France.
Retailleau announced the arrest of another Algerian, also describing him as an influencer, on Friday night. The minister said in a post that “he too will have to answer to the courts for vile comments made on TikTok.”