A Spanish man who slapped his wife during a TikTok livestream was sentenced to a year in prison on Monday, despite the victim’s refusal to file a police report. A court in the northern city of Soria found the man guilty of violence against women and barred him from approaching or communicating with his wife for three years, as well as from acquiring a weapon during that time. The sentence stems from an incident that occurred during a TikTok “battle” – a real-time competition between streamers where the winner is decided by viewers – between the woman and three men on January 28.
The man is seen slapping his wife in the face so hard that her head turns and she bursts out crying in images that went viral in Spain. “The defendant assaulted his wife publicly and openly in front of thousands of people with the intent of undermining her physical integrity and publicly humiliating her,” the court ruled.
“In cases of gender violence, the victim is not required to file a complaint. These should be punished once it is established that they have occurred “The court went on to say. “Broadcasting the slap live is enough for authorities to intervene and protect the victim, whether or not she recognizes herself as such.”
The woman had declined to press charges against her husband and had refused to testify against him during the trial. But the court said police had been called to the couple’s home in the past because of “disputes between the accused and his wife” which proved there was “continued mistreatment”.
Domestic violence has been prioritized by successive Spanish governments on both the right and the left. In 2004, the European Parliament overwhelmingly approved Europe’s first law specifically targeting gender-based violence. It established special courts and provided free legal aid to victims, as well as a hotline that would not appear on users’ phone bills.
PUROPOSE OF TIKTOK IN EVERYDAY LIFE
‘TikTok is a social media platform for creating, sharing, and discovering short videos. Young people use the app to express themselves through singing, dancing, comedy, and lip-syncing, and it allows users to create videos and share them with a community. There are countless possible responses, and TikTok’s phenomenal success can be attributed to a variety of astute decisions: Simple video creation tools blurred the line between creator and consumer far more than YouTube ever could. It is as safe as any other social media platform.
