Lebanon: TikTok Gang Bust Exposes Criminal Exploitation of Social Media

An Internal Security Forces patrol in Beirut (ISF Media).
An Internal Security Forces patrol in Beirut (ISF Media).
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Lebanon: TikTok Gang Bust Exposes Criminal Exploitation of Social Media

An Internal Security Forces patrol in Beirut (ISF Media).
An Internal Security Forces patrol in Beirut (ISF Media).

Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces arrested a gang of TikTokers who lure children and molest them, a criminal act shedding light on networks exploiting social media platforms to implicate people in various sorts of crimes.
At least six suspects have been arrested, the ISF said in a statement on Wednesday, including a famous TikToker and three minors also famous on TikTok as part of a gang carrying out sexual assaults against children.
They were of Lebanese, Syrian, and Turkish nationalities.
The scandal uncovered certain criminal networks that were exploiting social media, using it as a tool to falsely incriminate Lebanese individuals in unlawful acts.
A judicial source told Asharq Al-Awsat that preliminary investigations have shown that the matter has been ongoing for months, and that certain factors have helped it be uncovered.
The source assured that the file gains special attention because the victims are children who were “drugged, assaulted and filmed naked to intimidate and blackmail them, and forced to comply with the gang’s demands”.
He affirmed that the judiciary will impose the harshest measures and penalties against this gang and all those colluding with its leaders, “some of whom are known professionally and socially”.
“The ISF’s Intelligence Unit and the office of combating financial crimes, as well as the General Security apparatus, are working to track down dangerous gangs that plan to implicate people in crimes,” a security source told Asharq Al-Awsat.
“In the last three years, the agencies have gotten hold of a substantial number of networks exploiting social media to lure people and implicate them in drug, prostitution, and theft networks. Mossad networks and its agents have also succeeded in recruiting many Lebanese youth through these means”, he added on condition of anonymity.
The source noted that criminals have exploited Lebanon’s economic and financial crisis taking advantage of the victims who need money.
“The economic crisis has also affected the capabilities of the security services, and has limited their role in the field of proactive security,” he said.
He noted that the state has failed to provide modern and sophisticated technologies capable of monitoring these networks, and also prevented the training of investigative agencies to keep pace, track and prosecute the development of network activities.



Fire at a Telecom Company in Cairo Injures 14 and Temporarily Disrupts Service

 Smoke rises after a fire erupted in a telecommunications building in the Ramses district of downtown Cairo, Egypt July 7, 2025. (Reuters)
Smoke rises after a fire erupted in a telecommunications building in the Ramses district of downtown Cairo, Egypt July 7, 2025. (Reuters)
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Fire at a Telecom Company in Cairo Injures 14 and Temporarily Disrupts Service

 Smoke rises after a fire erupted in a telecommunications building in the Ramses district of downtown Cairo, Egypt July 7, 2025. (Reuters)
Smoke rises after a fire erupted in a telecommunications building in the Ramses district of downtown Cairo, Egypt July 7, 2025. (Reuters)

A fire engulfed the main telecom company building in downtown Cairo on Monday, injuring at least 14 people and prompting a temporary outage of internet and mobile phone services, officials said.

The 14 injured were taken to nearby hospitals, the Health Ministry said in a statement. A witness told news broadcaster Cairo 24 that two emergency responders suffered burns on their hands.

The fire started on the seventh floor of a landmark 10-story Telecom Egypt building in the Ramses area of Cairo, the governor's office said in a statement.

Ambulances and firetrucks were on site as plumes of dark smoke rose in the downtown. Firefighters put up ladders as firetrucks spewed water to contain the blaze, while security officials cordoned off the area.

The fire broke in an equipment room of Telecom Egypt and led to a temporary disruption of telecom services, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority said in a statement. Telecom services were expected to be restored within hours, the authority said. Online payment services were also disrupted.

NetBlocks, a global internet monitor said on X that network data show national connectivity was at 62% of ordinary levels amid reports of the fire at the telecoms datacenter in Cairo.