Politicians Are Now Facing Jail Time Over Inappropriate Social Media Activities

For the longest time, people in western countries and in most developing nations had this idea that they could use social media however they wanted without any consequences from the government. As it turns out, this is no longer the case, at least in France. A French politician is now facing actual, legal charges for posting content on Twitter that is considered illegal.

The politician who is now in hot water thanks to an unfortunate social media post is Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right party in France known as the Front National and is known for harboring anti-immigrant views. In 2015, she posted images on Twitter that featured gruesome and violent acts that were committed by ISIS that are now being used to charge her, AFP reports.

The contents of the post included a caption that read “Daesh is THIS” with Daesh being the Arabic equivalent of the acronym ISIS, along with images of American journalist James Foley after he was beheaded. In speaking to the publication, Le Pen said that all she was trying to do was to shed light on the horrors committed by the terrorist organization.

“I am being charged for having condemned the horrors of Daesh,” Le Pen said. “In other countries, this would have earned me a medal.”

As a result of this legal action, Le Pen is looking at a potential jail sentence that could see her behind bars for up to three years, The Verge reports. She would also need to pay a fine of $92,000.

During the most recent French presidential election, Le Pen was actually an opponent of the current president of the country. She posted the Tweet following the devastating terrorist attack in Paris on November of 2015, which saw 129 people getting killed. At the time, the anger that swept over the nation made such posts positively normal. Now, social media users have to be more careful about what they post.