Digital sovereignty in the face of Tunisian justice

This Thursday, June 1, a hearing of the trial took place between the Tunisian company Ureputation and Facebook. With, in the background, the question of Tunisia's digital sovereignty.

Tunisia, France, United States… Three years after the very media "Operation Carthage", in which Tunisian company Ureputation saw Facebook shut down hundreds of its employees' accounts after a report claimed it had carried out "influence operations during African presidential elections", the company's founder, Lotfi Bel Hajj, counter-attack in several countries. The businessman is indeed pulling out the heavy artillery, putting the best law firms up against the social media giant, used to having little resistance against him. In the entourage of Bel Hadj, it is confirmed that the latter "is concentrating on this legal battle" and that he "will not let go".

Independent experts overwhelm Facebook

And it is in Tunisia, the country where it all began, that the judicial charge of the man nicknamed "LBH" began. This Thursday, June 1, an unprecedented hearing opened before the 23rd chamber of the Tunis court of first instance. It is indeed very rare, if not impossible, to see Facebook lawyers pleading on the merits of cases in Africa. Recently, in Kenya for example, the defense of the Meta group simply challenged the form, in the lawsuit with its subcontractor Sama. Mark Zuckerberg's company claims that Kenyan justice is not competent to judge this case. But in Tunis, the procedure seems already well advanced and the Tunisian lawyer of the American group, Me Sami Kallel, is confronted with two expert reports which overwhelm the social network. And the postponement of the trial to September shows that, this time, Meta will have to face up to its responsibilities.

The message sent by Ureputation is clear: Tunisian society believes that the social network has not respected the conditions of service it offers. In the background, it is also question of “digital sovereignty”, a concept defended by Bel Hadj for several years. If, before the Tunisian judges, Ureputation deplores the fact that Facebook, as indicated by a report written by one of the two independent legal experts, "abusively" terminated the "contractual ties" between Facebook and UReputation - the damage is estimated at 12,5 million dinars, or about 4 million euros -, Lotfi Bel Hadj also asks, in particular through a forum in the French publication La Tribune , new legal frameworks to avoid “data theft by digital giants”.

Proceedings in Tunisia, France and the United States

The trial taking place in Tunisia only lasted a few minutes. But it is clear that Lotfi Bel Hadj has left nothing to chance. Faced with Facebook's lawyer, the businessman sent several lawyers, including Me Simon Le Wita, the French businessman who had hired the services of the famous British firm Charles Russell Speechlys. Established in 1891, the firm has offices throughout Europe, the Middle East and Asia, and is known for having defended from big companies like Nec or Nike. Next highly anticipated stage of this trial, on September 28. In the meantime, "LBH" is determined to assert its rights, also outside Tunisia.

Because Lotfi Bel Hadj's all-out legal offensive against Facebook, as the press defines the multitudes of proceedings launched by the entrepreneur against the Californian giant, is more topical than ever. Besides Tunisia, Bel Hadj seems determined to chase Facebook to his land. According to our information, on the Washington side, several prestigious law firms are currently making eyes at the businessman to launch a lawsuit in the United States, which would be resounding. In France, the National Commission for Computing and Liberties (CNIL), which has just imposed a record fine of 1,2 billion euros on Facebook for illegal data transfers, has deemed admissible the request for Lotfi Bel Hadj for the same reason. The next few months are going to be tricky for Facebook in this affair which is being played out all over the world.

Mongi Khadraoui is a journalist and former secretary general of the National Union of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT).