Influencer Medart risks punishment after showing identifiable attackers on TikTok, says lawyer
Lawyer Joris Van Cauter warns that Jonatan Medart faces legal risk by posting his attackers unblurred on TikTok. Ghent police have opened an investigation.
Lawyer: "You become judge and executioner" after Medart's TikTok video about homophobic abuse in Ghent
Influencer Jonatan Medart risks facing prosecution himself by showing his attackers identifiably in a TikTok video. This is according to lawyer Joris Van Cauter, as reported by vrt.be. "You become judge and executioner. Don't underestimate the impact when you're posted as a perpetrator on social media. That's for life."
The video Medart published shows him and his friend Seppe being followed by a group of young men in Ghent city centre. They repeatedly shout the word "homo" at them. Medart deliberately films them without blurring their faces and adds: "I think you won't find it so fun walking down the street within 2 days."
Legally problematic
Van Cauter acknowledges that Medart, as a victim, understandably wants to respond, but calls the approach inappropriate. "That you document it is good. Then you have evidence. If you're harassed online, register it, take screenshots and hand them over. If nothing is then done about it, and you have a platform like his, then you can still do something with it."
The lawyer raises the problem of the absence of any image blurring and the tone of the announcement. "He said: I'm now going to take revenge. I'm going to nail you to the pillory. Then you're harassing yourself."
Medart did not go to police himself. Ghent police opened an investigation on their own initiative following the video.
Precedent: YouTuber Acid convicted
Van Cauter refers to a similar case as a precedent. Influencer Acid made a YouTube video in the aftermath of the Sanda Dia case, in which he named (former) members of student club Reuzegom. Dia died during an initiation ceremony at the club. Acid had heard that someone had received a suspension and thought the sentence too lenient, but claimed to know the case only partially.
"That is problematic. And it is punishable, because then you're harassing yourself," said Van Cauter. Acid was ultimately convicted of a suspended prison sentence of three months and a fine of 800 euros.
According to Van Cauter, there is a possibility that Medart faces a similar trajectory if the court reaches the same conclusion about the TikTok video.
Source: Google News BE NL