An influencer from Ghent has been sentenced to 60 hours of community service for ridiculing a 13-year-old girl online. Without their permission, the Ghentian distributed videos of young girls in which they were judged on their appearance or their relationships.
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Influencer gets 60-hour community sentence for videos in which young girls are rated on their appearance
Colin Clapson
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The influencer has tens of thousands of followers on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. In his videos, he gives away large sums of money, game consoles and electric scooters. In exchange, young people have to carry out tasks or answer questions.
Points for their appearance or money for listing exes
It may sound innocent, but in one of his formats, minors, who are often very young, have to give points on the appearance of a fellow teen. In another format, they have to name their exes; the more they can list, the more they can earn.
On 27 May 2024, the mother of a 12-year-old girl went to the police because an influencer had posted a video of her daughter online without permission. In the video, another participant gave the girl a score of 1/10 for her appearance. The video was viewed by a large number of people, followed by many hurtful comments, and the girl was also bullied and humiliated at school because of the video.
Just under a year later, the police contacted the parents of a 13-year-old girl who had answered the question of how many ex-boyfriends she had in a video. Again, no permission had been sought to make the video and post it online.
Initially, the man faced prosecution on charges of stalking, but the court reclassified the facts as ‘unlawful processing of personal data’.
At the trial, the public prosecutor requested a one-year prison sentence, as well as specific conditions, and a fine.
The influencer was eventually sentenced to 60 hours of community service. If he fails to complete these, he will have to pay a fine of 4,000 euros. He must also pay the victims compensation.