A popular Egyptian social media influencer was detained by Saudi Arabia on suspicion of disseminating pornographic material on her platforms.
After posting a live video chat with a friend, Saudi police in Riyadh detained Egyptian resident Tala Safwan.
On Monday, the police announced that they had detained a resident of Egypt in Saudi Arabia who had “appeared in a broadcast on a social media site talking to another woman with sexual content and suggestiveness that could have a detrimental effect on public morality.”
Safwan, who the police did not identify, has been forwarded to the public prosecutor.
In the video, Safwan is chatting with a female Saudi friend and invites her over, claiming that Riyadh is making her lonely. It is 3:30 in the morning, so her friend declines.
Even better, Safwan responds, “since everyone will be asleep and they won’t hear what I’ll do to you.” They won’t hear your screams due to the fun we’ll be having, I promise.
The clip prompted a social media campaign against Safwan, with a hashtag trending on Twitter that translates to “Tala offends society”.
The clip from the full video, according to Safwan, who has five million TikTok followers and more than 800,000 YouTube subscribers, was taken out of context in order to stir up controversy.
She insisted that there was no sexism intended in her remarks and claimed not to have meant to offend anyone. In Saudi Arabia, homosexuality is not tolerated.
Safwan’s content, where she performs practical jokes and challenges and talks about TV shows, is very popular among Arab teenagers and young adults. Additionally, she talks about awkward social encounters and broaches the subject of relationships with provocative headlines.