France’s influencers have come under increasing scrutiny in recent years, with a law brought in to stop impressionable young followers being ‘scammed’ by false advertising and sold cheap goods by their favourite social media stars.
But criticism of their practices has in many cases spiralled into vile internet abuse, with Magali Berdah, known as France’s ‘queen of influencers’, this week helping to put 28 internet trolls who targeted her behind bars.
The mother-of-three told the trial how she had suffered such severe abuse, including anti-semitic and misogynistic insults, that she had come ‘within a whisker of throwing (herself) out the window’.
She accuses chart-topping rapper Booba of encouraging the trolling, and though he was not among those sentenced on Tuesday, he was indicted for harrassing the TV personality and faces a separate trial.
Both household names in France, the pair have been locked in a bitter feud since 2022, when Booba, real name Élie Yaffa, launched a campaign against ‘influvoleurs’ – or ‘thieving influencers’ – accusing Berdah of being their ‘pseudo-manager’.
Magali Berdah says she has received tens of thousands of messages of abuse online since 2022
The defendants’ actions had ‘real consequences’ on the mother-of-three’s mental health, the court was told
Booba, real name Élie Yaffa, launched a campaign against ‘influvoleurs’ – or ‘thieving influencers’ – in 2022
The rapper first ‘went to war’ with influencers in late 2021 after blogger Marc Blata accused him of wearing a fake watch, with Booba alleging that he started spreading ‘all sorts of lies’ about him.
‘From there, I went to war against him on social networks,’ he told French newspaper Libération.
Booba claimed he knew nothing about social media and reality TV stars, whose work he said made him ‘want to vomit’, but began exploring their world online amid the row with Blata.
‘It was the discovery of their massive scams that revolted me,’ he said in the explosive interview.
‘Beyond having no talent, promoting the culture of emptiness, stupidity, and not paying their taxes in France, they deceive citizens – especially teenagers – by selling them trash,’ he alleged.
His digging prompted him to look into other social media stars, and single out Berdah, who helps to market other influencers, as being a leader in the industry.
He began to call out Berdah in a series of tweets, and used his own following of more than 6million followers on X to draw attention to those he accused of being ‘influvoleurs’.
‘This story is not a clash, it is a demand for justice,’ he said at the time.
‘Their totally fake world must fall,’ he added. ‘And when it’s over, I’ll bring oranges to Magali Berdah.’
Berdah boasts 1.7 million Instagram followers and is a well-known TV personality in France
Berdah was targeted by rapper Booba, who in 2022 launched a campaign against ‘thieving influencers’ (Pictured in file image, 2019)
As she increasingly experienced online abuse from Booba and his followers, Berdah filed a complaint against the rapper, accusing him of ‘false publications’.
‘Since then, I have suffered mass online harassment,’ she said, with an investigation into death threats and other online abuse she suffered opened in June 2022.
She went on to post a statement on Instagram claiming that she had received ‘69,687 threats and insults’ in the space of two and a half months.
Her complaints later led to the trial, which culminated this week with more than two dozen people aged between 20 and 49 being handed jail terms.
Each of the 28 people who were sentenced ‘knew about the cyberbullying suffered by the victim and made a conscious choice to join in with it,’ the Paris court found.
Booba was not among those sentenced, and has denied that he put himself at the head of an online ‘mob’.
However, he has been indicted for cyberharrassment of Berdah in a separate case, which he denies.
The rapper is accused of ‘at least 487 messages on social networks’ aimed ‘directly’ at Ms Berdah between May 2022 and May 2023.
Despite the claims, Booba’s campaign to highlight ‘unethical’ practices carried out by influencers was hailed by many as helping to crack down on false advertising and other malpractice.
Styling himself as a whistleblower, lawmakers claimed that the rapper, known for his number one track Mona Lisa, has helped to bring the issue to light.
‘He’s right, Booba, he’s right to point out that there are excesses (among certain influencers),’ Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, said at the time a law regulating ‘commercial influence activity by electronic means’ was passed in June 2023.
It was aimed at stamping out online scams which saw influencers convince their followers to buy fake products, such as miracle health remedies, and required them to make clear when they are being paid for adverts.
But the crackdown, alongside the heightened criticism from internet users, ‘ruined’ the careers of some influencers.
Berdah, who has Russian and Ukrainian heritage, works as a talent agent and runs a number of companies
Reality star Julia Paredes claimed to have experienced a significant drop in income, saying on a podcast: ‘I’m going to tell the truth, months ago, I was earning €35,000 to €40,000, and after the controversies, now we are at €5,000.’
The huge criticism of influencers, which in many cases was unsubstantiated, also appears to have damaged Berdah’s business interests.
The businesswoman announced in November that she is suing Booba for €30million, accusing him of launching a smear campaign against her and her company.
She said that the rapper had launched a ‘monstrous campaign of denigration and destabilization whose sole objective is that (her person and her associates) are both reduced to nothing’.
Berdah boasts 1.7 million Instagram followers and is a well-known TV personality, as well as working as a talent agent and running a number of companies.
The businesswoman herself faces trial in Nice in September for bankruptcy and money laundering in a separate case.
Her company, a marketing agency called Shauna Events, is also being investigated for fraud.
‘Nothing can justify cyberbullying, especially not the behaviour of the person targeted,’ her lawyer has said.
Following this week’s sentencing, Berdah and her lawyers have vowed to continue her to seek justice for victims of internet abuse, declaring that ‘the fight goes on’.
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