In Morocco, YouTube is one tool to attack LGBTQ, vulnerable communities
After a Moroccan content creator targeted the transgender community, the damaging videos were left on YouTube for two weeks before being removed.
RABAT — YouTube can be a space to start a business, educate and build a community. Unfortunately, it is also sometimes used to perpetuate hate among already vulnerable communities as in the case of Morocco's transgender activist Eden Ghali, a victim of such attacks.
Ghali, 28, has always been open about his journey as a transgender man originally from Morocco, a country that neither criminalizes nor recognizes the transgender community, leaving them in a dangerous limbo. For Ghali, putting his story out there is a way of helping like-minded individuals to feel less alone.
Negative and hateful comments are not new to Ghali, but a vicious online attack about two weeks ago by Abdelouahed Benomar and his millions of followers pushed him to the limit.
The Moroccan content creator — better known by his online name, B3a9li (“My Brain” in Darija) — posted three videos targeting Ghali and the transgender community. In the videos, B3a9li compared gay people to dirt and stated people like Ghali who identify or support the LGBTQIA+ community “are against Muslim and Moroccan values” and are part of a conspiracy aimed at destroying society.
