Amine Mojito, a French influencer, is in prison for his dangerous “prank” videos. This has sparked a lot of discussion about the limits of social media stunts. A Paris court gave the 24-year-old content producer, whose actual name is Illan Magneron, a one-year term, with six months of that time to be spent in jail. What did he do wrong? Sneaking up on someone who doesn’t know you and stabbing them with an empty, capped syringe, all for the sake of viral fame.
By producing edgy, shocking videos on TikTok and Instagram, Mojito gained more than 500,000 followers. At first, the jokes were innocent, but they quickly turned into something far worse. In a series of recordings from late last year, he attacked people walking by on busy streets in Paris, imitating injection assaults that terrified the victims.
Millions of people have seen one film showing Mojito walking up to a young lady from behind. She stops as the needle pricks her arm. Her expression twists in terror and uncertainty until he says, “It’s just a prank, bro.” His team off camera laughs, but the woman’s pain stays with her long after the cut. The judge didn’t believe the defence’s claim that it was “harmless fun”.
Prosecutors said the pranks hurt people’s minds for real, making a community that was already on edge even more anxious. People who were hurt said they had nightmares, panic attacks, and a fear of being in public places that wouldn’t go away.
Marie Duval, the lead prosecutor, stated during closing arguments, “These weren’t games.” “These were attacks on trust and safety.” People in France were really upset by Mojito’s actions since real-life syringe assaults have been a problem at summer events.
In June, about 150 individuals, largely young women, were pricked at parties in Bordeaux and La Rochelle. This caused a nationwide uproar and led to more than a dozen arrests. Health authorities examined the victims for HIV and hepatitis, but most of the tests came back negative.
Fake versions of Mojito made that worry worse by making it hard to tell what was genuine and what was a performance. His lawyers asked for mercy, saying that the influencer was young and had not been in conflict before. They said that the sealed needle made sure that no one was hurt, and they called it “overblown street theatre”.
A French ‘influencer’ has been stabbing people with an empty needle for ‘content’
— Basil the Great (@Basil_TGMD) October 4, 2025
He’s just been sentenced to 6 months in prison
Horrific
pic.twitter.com/O2Xj9u4jm1
But the judge didn’t change his mind. Magistrate Laurent Berger said, “In a time of deepfakes and false information, actions like these hurt the wider peace.” The judgement stipulates a fine of €5,000 and a two-year restriction on posting on social media.
There has been a quick and harsh public reaction. There were more than 1,600 upvotes on a Reddit post regarding the decision on r/TikTokCringe, with many calling the sentence a slap on the wrist.
“Six months?” “He should have gotten six years,” one commentator said, echoing what many others on X (previously Twitter) said. Another person joked, “Sentence more influencers who do dumb things like this!” – a post that got hundreds of likes.
X was full of memes and rants, and a lot of people tagged Mojito’s account before it went black. “It’s just a prank, bro” became a bitter punchline that others used in viral edits of his own videos.
A person named @visegrad24 shared a video of the prank with the words “French influencer Amine Mojito has been sentenced…” “It’s just a prank, bro,” got more than 7,000 likes in just a few hours.
People started calling for his cameraman to be prosecuted more loudly, and they wanted everyone in the “content mill” to be held equally responsible. This case shows that the government is cracking down on bad influencers more and more.
A British YouTuber was charged last month with fake abduction acts that scared families. French politicians are thinking about making it harder for those who develop things online, maybe by forcing them to get permission before interacting with the public.
Sophie Laurent, a media ethicist, and other experts say that the search for views is turning pavements into stages and making victims become unknowing extras. Mojito’s fans, who are becoming fewer and fewer, say that free expression protects work that is a little out there.
