Detention of Youtuber Haneen Hossam to be renewed by 15 days

CAIRO – 10 May 2020: The detention of the Youtuber Haneen Hossam will be renewed by 15 days pending investigations over accusations of committing immoral actions through Tik Tok application.

The North Cairo Court in Abbasiya district ruled to accept an appeal filed against a decision to release Hossam. The court had previously ruled to release Hossam on bail L.E. 50,000.

Investigation into the case of Egyptian social media influencer Haneen Hossam has found her guilty of committing immoral actions through the Tik Tok application, taking advantage of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the society’s economic situation to lure and deceive young girls into using certain online applications to “meet strangers” and “post entertainment videos” for some extra cash.

Hossam, believed to be a social media influencer, especially by underage teenagers and children, was ordered to be detained pending investigation for 15 days for publishing online videos "inciting debauchery, immorality and violating public morals," according to a security source.

Hossam, who has 1.2 million followers on the social media app, posted a video to recruit women to join a group she created on short-video sharing platform Likee, with the purpose of promoting the platform in return for payment.

In the footage posted on Likee, she offered girls and women the chance to “work from home and earn around £2,025 to £2,430 for making live videos and talking to strangers.”

She added, "You will be able to form friendships with people in a respectable way."

The prosection accused Hossam on Saturday of committing human trafficking and inciting young girls to commit inappropriate actions online.

Sexual predators are now increasingly using popular online games, apps and social media to groom and talk to children, a new campaign to fight underage sexual abuse has revealed.

Police are warning parents that games, social media and apps such as TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Discord, Likee, Kik Tellonyn, Whispr, Minecraft and House Party - or any app that has a chat option - are being misused by child predators.

Hossam, widely known for using photo editing magnification tools on her photos to attract online attention, is also a second-year student at Cairo University Faculty of Archaeology.

Egypt Today reported the university’s president Mohamed Othman El-Khosht said he had received several messages that a student in the University was calling upon females to shoot "inappropriate" videos in return for money.

He reportedly stressed that the university will impose the maximum penalty for acting against the Egyptian community’s values and traditions.

Research by eSafety has revealed 1 in 4 young people have been contacted by a stranger online.

It is pertinent to mention that, Crime Stoppers and NSW Police Force have joined with the eSafety Commissioner's office for the first time to launch a child protection campaign to combat child sexual abuse and unwanted contact online.