FesNews Issues Formal Legal Notice Over Misappropriated “Ain Chkef Forest” Footage Falsely Linked to “Forest 33” Case

FEZ (FesNews Media) — The management of FesNews has monitored a widespread wave of fabricated news and misleading digital content circulating on social media platforms regarding the high-profile criminal investigation known as the “Forest 33” (Forêt 33) case. Several social media operators have unlawfully extracted archival footage filmed exclusively by FesNews and republished it under false headlines, stripping the material of its true geographical and chronological context in blatant violation of national and international publishing laws.

Specifically, digital monitoring teams documented that social media pages spliced and reposted scenes from FesNews Media’s exclusive June 30, 2024 field coverage of a judicial crime reenactment in Ain Chkef Forest (Moulay Yacoub Province, on the outskirts of Fez), falsely presenting the footage as a reenactment of the recent “Forest 33” homicides near Benslimane and El Mansouria—an entirely separate judicial investigation currently underway before the Casablanca Court of Appeal.

Formal Cease-and-Desist Notice Issued Over 18 Infringing Video Clips

Through its legal and technical compliance unit, FesNews documented that a single Facebook page published eighteen (18) video segments cut directly from the newspaper’s original reportage, pairing them with sensationalized captions claiming to show the “Forest 33 crime reenactment” in order to harvest hundreds of thousands of views, reactions, and illicit advertising revenue at the expense of public truth and copyright law.

Strictly adhering to due legal process and refraining from publicly naming or defaming the offending operator outside judicial channels, FesNews management served a formal Cease-and-Desist and Correction Notice demanding the immediate removal of all 18 clips and notifying the operator of legal action before the competent courts:

To the Administrator of the Concerned Facebook Page

Subject — Formal Notice to Delete 18 Video Clips, Publish a Correction, and Notification of Legal Proceedings

The management of “FesNews” has documented the publication of eighteen (18) video clips on your page, extracted from the newspaper’s coverage of a crime reenactment that took place in Ain Chkef Forest. These clips were presented in your page’s posts as relating to the ongoing incident concerning “Forest 33,” thereby misleading the public and creating confusion between two entirely distinct events.

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Link to Original FesNews Coverage (June 30, 2024):
https://youtu.be/i-83SKmtTgw

Accordingly, the newspaper’s management formally demands that you delete all eighteen clips immediately upon receipt of this notice, cease republishing them in the aforementioned false context, and publish a clear correction on the same page clarifying that the footage belongs to FesNews’s coverage of a crime reenactment in Ain Chkef Forest and does not document the “Forest 33” case.

Furthermore, the newspaper notifies you that it has decided to initiate formal legal proceedings before the competent judicial authorities regarding these publications, regardless of whether the clips are deleted or a correction is published, while reserving its full right to claim damages for all proven harm resulting from this publication.

The Authentic June 30, 2024 Ain Chkef Forest Reportage

For the public record, the original broadcast pirated by social media pages was filmed and published on June 30, 2024. It documented an operation by the Royal Gendarmerie of Bensouda, acting on precise intelligence provided by the General Directorate for Territorial Surveillance (DGST), arresting a repeat offender dubbed by local media as the “Ain Chkef Forest attacker” who had threatened women jogging in the forest with a bladed weapon. The judicial reenactment was conducted under the supervision of the Public Prosecutor’s Office:

Legal and Ethical Accountability Far Outweighs the Pursuit of Views and Likes

While FesNews unequivocally condemns the unlawful and unethical exploitation of its digital archive, the newspaper calls upon all content creators and digital page administrators to strictly respect national and international publishing regulations, verify facts from primary sources before broadcasting, and refrain from weaponizing sensitive criminal investigations to manufacture viral misinformation.

FesNews emphasizes that fabricating contexts, spreading false news, and pirating protected journalistic works expose offenders to severe criminal, civil, and ethical liability under Article 447-2 of the Moroccan Penal Code, Article 72 of Press and Publishing Law No. 88.13, and Copyright Law No. 2.00—legal consequences that far outweigh any fleeting desire to accumulate views, likes, or illicit monetization.