Influencer given six-month sentence for fake syringe prank videos
- Oct 7
- 2 min read
07 October 2025
In a case that has stirred social media and judicial scrutiny alike the Paris Criminal Court on October 3 delivered a sobering verdict in a widely publicized matter. The plaintiff in question is 27-year-old Amine Mojito, better known under his online alias Ilan M, who was convicted of “violence with a weapon that did not result in incapacity for work” after creating a series of viral prank videos in which he pretended to inject unsuspecting pedestrians with a syringe.
Mojito’s antics took the internet by storm during the summer, drawing millions of views as he approached passersby and mimed inserting them with a needle. Though no victims are believed to have suffered lasting physical harm the imagery and methodology raised broader alarm. Prosecutors argued that beyond the individual stunts Mojito was, whether knowingly or otherwise, fueling a dangerous cult of injection pranks at public gatherings and festivals. In fact multiple women around France had reported being injected with unknown substances in public without consent an alarming trend prosecutors linked to the climate the influencer helped normalize.
When the case went to trial Mojito attempted to frame the pranks as misguided imitation, claiming he was following trends he saw online while in Spain and Portugal and that he never intended to harm anyone. In his own words he said he “did not think it could hurt people” and admitted he had been “in his own world” and disconnected from awareness of others.
The prosecution had initially called for a 15-month sentence, but the court settled on a one-year term with six months suspended effectively enforcing a six-month jail term plus fines. A representative from Mojito’s defense cast the decision as a more measured response to a case that had become sensationalized in the media, suggesting it restores a more appropriate balance between protecting public order and safeguarding individual rights.
Mojito, who had amassed more than 131,000 Instagram followers before his arrest in June, had not posted since that time and his TikTok account appears to have been deactivated. The outcome of the trial may serve as a cautionary tale to creators walking the line between provocation and public risk and a reminder that performance for the camera can sometimes invite consequences beyond the viral spotlight.
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