Over the past period, social media has undergone a major transformation, becoming a "colony" for illicit businesses, drug trafficking, and the entrapment of minors into illegal activities.

There is a fine line between the ability to influence the public sphere and the exploitation of the influence granted by digital fame to commit illegal acts.

This is confirmed by recurring experiences in Lebanon. Following the "TikTok gang" case that shocked public opinion in May 2024 with its revelations of entrapment, blackmail, and exploitation of minors, came the conviction of the blogger "Doctor Food," whose real name is George Dib, broadening the circle of questions about the other side of the influencers' world and how digital platforms can transform from a space for influence and promotion into a tool exploited for unlawful practices.

Between the two cases, an alarming trajectory unfolds that goes beyond content creation, entertainment, and influencing tastes and public opinion, to using digital fame as a means to lure victims, entice them, and then blackmail or exploit them. With the expanding influence of influencers, it appears that some platform users are redefining the concept of stardom—not as a social responsibility, but as an unwritten immunity that allows bypassing the law and escaping accountability.

The conviction of the blogger "Doctor Food," whose real name is George Dib, came to expand the circle of questions about the other side of the influencers' world (His personal Facebook page)

The "Doctor's" Conviction

Over the past five years, "Doctor Food," originally from Akkar in northern Lebanon, gained significant fame and his star rose sharply due to the content he presented regarding reviewing dishes at the most famous restaurants or his own products. His video-documented daily life with his wife "Chourouk" became a subject of public conversation, and his renown spread in December 2021 following the embarrassing situation caused by the "mockery video" of Abu Haitham's cart—the vendor selling Tripolitan ka'ak in the north of the country—before he later apologized to the elderly man.

With rapid steps, this man transitioned from behind users' screens to the manufacturing sector, launching his own products bearing his name and image. Then came the shock months ago caused by the judicial prosecution issued against him on charges of manufacturing and trafficking drugs after a drug shipment was seized inside boxes of his private wafer biscuits heading toward Turkey.

With the start of the trial, the Doctor was considered a fugitive from justice due to his failure to appear before the Lebanese judiciary.

The major ruling came on July 16 with the Mount Lebanon Criminal Court issuing an in-absentia verdict against him, sentencing George Hanna Dib, known as "Doctor Food," and his accomplices to hard labor for life under Article 150 of the Drug Law regarding the manufacture and smuggling of drugs inside biscuits out of Lebanon. The judicial ruling text stated: "Exploiting the company's name and fame in drug smuggling and trafficking operations."

Doctor Food did not appear before the judiciary to defend himself, nor did he remain silent. Instead, he chose to appear across social media platforms—which he plays skillfully—to defend himself, assert his innocence, and liken his journey to history's greats who suffered greatly because achieving success is difficult. He emphasized that he is continuing his work and that he did not appear before the judiciary due to the war.

White-Collar Crimes

The judicial ruling against Doctor Food sheds light once again on a category of crimes known to legal professionals as "white-collar crimes," which occur when influential individuals with power, wealth, and audacity use their positions and status to commit widespread violations of the law and crimes. However, what is new in the current situation is the entry of social media as an intermediary in these crimes, exploiting its leverage over public opinion, fame, and the resulting stardom to cover up these actions.

Regarding the causes, the resort of some influencers to exploit their platforms in illicit activities is not due to a single factor, but rather to the convergence of digital influence, economic temptation, and weak regulations. The larger the follower base, the greater the ability to influence their decisions and behavior, transforming the trust built between the influencer and their audience into capital that can be invested in marketing products, services, or projects that may not be subject to sufficient oversight.

The nature of digital platforms—based on speed, widespread reach, and the difficulty of immediate fact-checking—provides a larger space to conceal unlawful practices or legitimize them through the influencer's image and reputation, making the follower more ready to believe and less inclined to skepticism.

Doctor Food is accused of drug trafficking by exploiting his fame (Pexels website)

What Do Specialists Say?

Dr. Sabine El-Kek, a law professor at the Lebanese University, affirms that "social media has become a true haven for white-collar criminals to commit financial and banking crimes, money laundering, financial fraud, and tax evasion due to its lack of discipline in many countries under the rules and regulations of customs, financial, and tax laws." She points out that these crimes have expanded to extreme limits with the digital economy, cryptocurrencies, and fake advertisements, noting the so-called "Ponzi scheme," which involves deceiving the public into creating fake projects that do not actually exist across social media sites by white-collar individuals and those holding high positions in the public and private sectors.

El-Kek considers that "social media, like any tool, has a dual use; it has a good face for positive goals and the public interest, but it has another negative face that does not stop at negatively influencing the public's ideas and stereotyping public opinion, but goes beyond that to use it as a means to facilitate the commission of cross-border crimes," when "criminals use it either to facilitate their crimes or polish their image after a path of corruption, taking advantage of its wide spread and speed in reaching the largest possible segment of the audience of various ages and generations, as it is also cross-regional and cross-country."

Sabine El-Kek stresses that "these actions cannot be described as cybercrimes, which constitute a special type of crime, but rather are traditional crimes whose perpetrators develop their means and tools, as the digital and electronic space has become a haven for them or a curtain that hides them. Therefore, these are not crimes that occur and are restricted in their effects to the digital space, but rather exceed it to real life with very dangerous social, humanitarian, and security dimensions."

From this perspective, Sabine El-Kek believes in the necessity of tightening sentences and penalties for such cases due to the ease of reaching victims on a wide scale, whether they are children, adults, or broad social segments of users. She adds that "the matter requires a broad legislative workshop in Lebanon to control these crimes and amend laws, not to mention the necessity of being aware of the impact of these digital tools on national security due to their use in espionage operations, trapping individuals, and tracking their movements and lifestyles, according to El-Kek."

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