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Unfolding Stories
TikTokers jailed as Iraq targets 'decadent content'
Dancing to Iraqi pop made TikTok personality Om Fahad a hit among tens of thousands of followers, but now she is in prison.
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An Iraqi man shows a post on a social media platform on February 12, 2023 in the capital Baghdad, with a picture of TikTok celebrity Om Fahed, announcing that she has been jailed by the authorities. (AFP/Ahmad Al-Rubaye)
D
ancing to Iraqi pop made TikTok personality Om Fahad a hit among tens of thousands of followers, but now she is in prison, caught up in a state campaign targeting "decadent content".
The young Iraqi woman using that pseudonym was sentenced early this month to half a year behind bars for the light-hearted video clips that show her in tight-fitting clothes.
A new government campaign aims to cleanse social media platforms of content that breaches Iraqi "mores and traditions", the interior ministry announced in January.
A specialised committee now scours TikTok, YouTube and other popular platforms for clips deemed offensive by many in the largely conservative and patriarchal society.
"This type of content is no less dangerous than organised crime," the ministry declared in a promotional video that asked the public to help by reporting such content.
"It is one of the causes of the destruction of the Iraqi family and society."
Days after Om Fahad's sentencing, another TikTok influencer who goes by the online name of Assal Hossam received an even harsher sentence of two years in prison.
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