Tunis, Nov. 19 (TAP editorial staff) – Lawyers for a number of content creators have appealed against sentences handed down against their clients this month for content deemed offensive to public morals and decency, Ghazi Mrabet, a lawyer for one of the defendants, told TAP. The date for the appeal hearings has not yet been set, he added.
In early November, the courts sentenced five content creators to prison terms ranging from 18 months to four and a half years.
At the end of October, the Ministry of Justice had asked the Prosecutor's Office to take the necessary legal measures to combat content on social networks, particularly TikTok and Instagram, that is deemed to be offensive to public decency, immoral or contrary to the values of society.
Following the verdict in the case, Farid Ben Jha, spokesman for the courts of first instance in Monastir and Mahdia, told the media that the court had imposed the maximum sentence allowed by law.
He added that the defendants could appeal, as could the prosecution. The Court of Appeal can either confirm, reduce or increase the sentences. It can also replace the prison sentence with alternative punishments, such as community service.
The legal provisions
According to Farid Ben Jha, in cases of this kind, the judiciary relies on a number of laws, mainly the Telecommunications Code, the Criminal Code and the law on offences related to information and communications systems.
He explained that the legal proceedings against some of these "content creators" were based on the provisions of Article 86 of the Telecommunications Code, Articles 226 and 226a of the Criminal Code, and Articles 24 and 25 of the law on offences related to information and communications systems.
Article 86 of the Telecommunications Code states that anyone who knowingly harms third parties or disturbs their peace of mind through public telecommunications networks shall be punished by imprisonment for between one and two years and a fine of between one hundred and one thousand dinars.
Article 226 of the Penal Code states that anyone who knowingly causes public indecency shall be liable to six months' imprisonment and a fine of forty-eight dinars.
Article 226a, added by Law No. 2004-73 of August 2, 2004: Anyone who, by gesture or word, publicly undermines public morals or decency, or deliberately disturbs others in a manner that undermines decency, shall be punished by six months' imprisonment and a fine of one thousand dinars.
Anyone who publicly draws attention to an opportunity to commit debauchery by means of written, recorded, audio or visual, electronic or optical messages shall be liable to the same penalties as those provided for in the previous paragraph.
Article 24 of the law on offences related to information and communications systems states that:
Anyone who intentionally uses an information or communication system to disseminate data containing obscene words or an affront to public decency shall be punished by six months' imprisonment and a fine of five thousand dinars.
The penalty is three years' imprisonment and a fine of 10,000 dinars if the content of the data is intended to incite adultery or unchastity.
According to Article 25 of the same law:
Anyone who intentionally uses an information system to process the personal data of another person in order to link them to content that is contrary to public morality or to show them in a way that is contrary to their honour and reputation shall be punished by five years' imprisonment and a fine of fifty thousand dinars.
Tunisians and social networking
According to a study conducted by the Media Net Foundation and published in April 2024, seven 7 million and seven hundred thousand Tunisians have a Facebook page, an increase of 14% compared to 2023.
The same study points out that Instagram users number 3 million 512 thousand Tunisians, an increase of 19pc compared to January 2023.
It should be noted that 2 million 320 thousand Tunisians are registered on the Linked-In platform.
The Messenger application is in second place in terms of use, followed by TikTok, with an increase of 75pc.
Facebook users are in the 35-54 age group (31%). This platform is less used by 25-34 year olds, who are much more likely to use Instragram, while TikTok is the most used network by under 24 year olds.
Now that Tunisia's 'influencers and content creators' are active on social networks, the government has set up a unit to investigate and exploit information about them in order to make them liable to tax.
When discussing the department's budget for 2025, Finance Minister Sihem Nemsia Boughdiri pointed out that a tax audit of 15 million dinars had been carried out in this category.
Raising awareness and enforcing the law
Commenting on the prison sentences handed down to Tunisian content creators, Wahid Ferchichi, Dean of the Faculty of Legal, Political and Social Sciences at Ariana, stressed that in law, the first rules to be taken into account are proportionality and necessity, which is not the case here.
In a statement to TAP, he added that legal deterrence is never the best solution to protect society in general, and children and adolescents in particular, from 'unacceptable content'.
Ethical crime is a relative crime and criminal sanctions should be a last resort and used only in rare cases, he continued.
The responsibility for protecting children and young people lies primarily with parents, according to the academic, who also insists on a review of education systems to make the younger generation aware of the risks of social networking.
In this context, sociologist Fethia Saidi pointed out that social networks constitute a virtual public space that reflects all orientations, visions, opinions and behaviours of society, which is why it is now necessary to include education on new technologies in school curricula.
For the sociologist, it is also necessary to support and guide young people, and to create links of trust and exchange between parents and the younger generation.
Saidi believes that the solution is not to put "content creators" in prison.
Punishment by imprisonment deepens the sense of injustice and fosters compassion for inmates.
Imprisonment can deter and reduce bad content, but its effects are limited in time. What's more, it will have no impact on behaviour. Worse, it will have the opposite effect.
Sam