The Mauritanian TikTok: An Open Platform for Promoting Hatred Against Women and the LGBTQ+ Community

In recent years, social media platforms have undergone massive growth, becoming essential tools for social interaction and expressing opinions and perspectives. Among these platforms, TikTok has emerged as a leading app that combines entertainment and education, allowing users to share their ideas and feelings freely. However, this platform has also introduced new challenges, most notably the proliferation of hate speech targeting specific societal groups, particularly the LGBTQ+ community, in some Arab countries, including Mauritania.

1. The Reality of the LGBTQ+ Community in Mauritania

In Mauritania, as in many other Arab and Islamic countries, discussions around LGBTQ+ rights remain highly sensitive and often taboo. Strict cultural and religious traditions dominate society, leaving no room for the acknowledgment of individual rights for LGBTQ+ individuals. This creates a state of social and legal isolation, where these individuals face persecution, discrimination, and even violence—whether at a personal level or through institutional frameworks.

2. The Rise of Hate Speech on TikTok

TikTok, which attracts millions of users in Mauritania, has become an ideal space for raising awareness, fostering social interaction, and sharing entertainment content. However, it has simultaneously turned into fertile ground for spreading hate speech and inciting hostility toward the LGBTQ+ community. The widespread sharing of offensive videos—whether through mockery or direct attacks on LGBTQ+ individuals—has only exacerbated already tense societal dynamics.

Some videos propagate anti-LGBTQ+ ideologies using dark humor or outright assaults on their "gender identity," perpetuating hatred and reinforcing harmful stereotypes. In certain cases, individuals are directly targeted in videos, causing them psychological and even physical harm. This effect is magnified by the ease of access to these clips and the rapid engagement they generate.

3. The Impact of Hate Speech on Society

The dissemination of hate speech on TikTok fuels hostility and prejudice against LGBTQ+ individuals, deepening ignorance and discrimination toward them. It also perpetuates negative stereotypes, further marginalizing this group socially. This creates a hostile environment that makes it difficult for LGBTQ+ individuals to express themselves freely, seek psychological and social support, or advocate for their basic rights.

4. Mauritanian Authorities: Legal, Social, and Religious Hostility Toward the LGBTQ+ Community

In Mauritania, authorities maintain an openly hostile stance toward the LGBTQ+ community across legal, social, and religious dimensions. Legally, the judiciary criminalizes homosexuality, with penalties as severe as death in some cases, institutionalizing hate against this group. Socially, traditional and cultural norms are staunchly opposed to any expression of LGBTQ+ identity or gender transition, making self-expression extremely risky. Religiously, prevailing Islamic interpretations strictly condemn and prohibit homosexuality, which many use to justify oppressing LGBTQ+ individuals as violating moral and societal values.

5. Spreading Misogyny and Anti-Feminism on Mauritanian TikTok

Alongside hate speech against the LGBTQ+ community, Mauritanian TikTok has become a prominent platform for misogyny and anti-feminist sentiment. The channel of Ghaith Al-Mauritani, a Mauritanian residing in the United States, leads this type of content, openly promoting ideas hostile to women and demeaning movements advocating for their rights.

In his live streams, Ghaith employs a rhetoric of sarcasm and insult, accusing women of seeking to dominate men or "destroy" traditional values. He expresses disdain for feminism, labeling it a threat to social order, and attacks women advocating for equality and their rights to education, work, and social participation.

Using a style that appeals to thousands of viewers, Ghaith often receives agreement and encouragement from his audience, further amplifying the spread of these harmful ideas. Most concerning is that his messages reach young and impressionable audiences, perpetuating gender-biased ideologies within Mauritanian society.

Despite living in a country like the United States that champions freedoms and women’s rights, Ghaith evades legal consequences by using localized Arabic dialects, hindering authorities or organizations from understanding the true nature of his content. This phenomenon is not isolated; many Mauritanians abroad share similar content, reflecting a broader societal issue that requires comprehensive intervention.

The spread of misogynistic hate speech poses a threat not only to women’s rights but also to efforts toward building a more just and balanced society. It exacerbates gender divisions and undermines attempts to foster equality and mutual respect.

6. Hatim Mohamed: The “Mauritanian Andrew Tate” and Hate Speech Against Women and LGBTQ+ Communities

Among the notable Mauritanian figures leveraging social media to spread hate speech is Hatim Mohamed, nicknamed the “Mauritanian Andrew Tate,” referencing the globally controversial figure known for his anti-women rhetoric. Hatim, who lives as a refugee in the United States, uses platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook to attack women, feminists, and openly express his hatred for the LGBTQ+ community.

In his content, Hatim promotes male superiority and attacks feminism as a “threat to the natural order.” He uses a mix of humor and direct assault to attract viewers’ attention. His rhetoric is particularly harsh, encouraging others to view women as inferior and defending strict traditional gender roles. Regarding LGBTQ+ issues, Hatim espouses openly hostile and aggressive language that encourages verbal and emotional violence against this community.

Exploiting Local Dialects to Evade Accountability

Like Ghaith, Hatim uses local Arabic dialects in his content, making it challenging for U.S. authorities, which have stringent anti-hate speech laws, to hold him accountable. Through this strategy, Hatim successfully avoids legal scrutiny despite his content being in stark contradiction to the values of freedom and equality championed by his host country.

The Impact of Hatim’s Content on Mauritanian Society

Hatim Mohamed’s content influences not only Mauritanian followers abroad but also those within Mauritania, reinforcing negative stereotypes about women and distorting perceptions of feminism. This exacerbates challenges faced by feminist movements and the LGBTQ+ community in the country. Hatim’s popularity implicitly legitimizes the hate speech he promotes, particularly among the youth, further entrenching his ideas within Mauritanian society.

The Need to Combat Hate Speech

The exploitation of social media platforms by figures like Ghaith Al-Mauritani and Hatim Mohamed to spread hatred against women and the LGBTQ+ community highlights the urgent need for serious measures to limit the influence of such content. Platforms must enhance mechanisms for detecting abusive content in all languages and encourage users to report it. Rights organizations, both local and international, must collaborate to shed light on this phenomenon and hold perpetrators accountable, ensuring a digital environment that respects human rights and upholds the values of equality and diversity.

 Social media platforms, including TikTok, have become double-edged swords; they allow individuals to express their opinions freely while also providing fertile ground for the spread of hate speech and discrimination. In the Mauritanian context, this challenge is evident through the rise of hostile rhetoric against women and the LGBTQ+ community, propagated by prominent figures like Ghaith Al-Mauritani and Hatim Mohamed. Despite residing in countries like the United States, where anti-hate laws are advanced, they exploit linguistic and cultural barriers to disseminate inflammatory content without accountability.

The impact of this hate speech extends beyond digital spaces into society, fueling intolerance and undermining efforts to achieve equality and mutual respect.