Poupette Kenza

Kenza Benchrif, better known under the pseudonym Poupette Kenza, born on 29 June 2000 in Rouen, is a French web celebrity.
==Early life==
Kenza Benchrif was born on 29 June 2000 in Rouen, in a family of Moroccan origin.
==Internet career==
She started out on social networks while still living with her mother.
In 2022, she began to have second thoughts about the negative repercussions of exposing her private life. From then on, she went through phases of doubt when she considered quitting social networking.
On 18 January 2023, her Snapchat account was banned, only to be reinstated a few days later. On 23 January 2023, she opened a TikTok account and within a few hours had more than 500,000 subscribers and launched a live TikTok with more than 100,000 viewers.
By February 2023, she was the most followed French influencer on the Snapchat social network, with over a million followers. Le Parisien believes that Poupette Kenza, who is sometimes adored and sometimes hated, is a divisive figure in her milieu, forming 'a toxic community'.
In early 2023, she moved to Dubai, a country that BFMTV sees as 'a safe haven for a large number of French influencers'. According to Le Point, the reasons for this decision may be tax-related or, as noted by the Bladi.net website, to escape harassment out of religious reasons, by the French Muslim community, such as criticising her for celebrating Mother's Day or her alleged lack of religious observance.
For researcher Virginie Spies, 'while many influencers go through the reality TV process before becoming stars on social networks, Poupette Kenza has turned her daily life into a reality show. She has become a reality show in her own right'. For the researcher at the University of Avignon, 'if Poupette Kenza is a symptom, it is the symptom of a society sick of overexposure'.
Her activity is marked by the large number of contributions she makes, generally 'several dozen per hour' on Instagram according to BFMTV, while Le Monde reports 'between twenty and thirty snaps per hour', and 'hundreds of videos posted every day'. According to 20 Minutes, 'her job basically consists of posting photos and videos of herself, her children and her husband on social networks'.
==Polemics==
===Child abuse===
In February 2023, Poupette Kenza was taken into police custody on a charge of 'removal by the parent of a minor child without legitimate reason from his legal obligations, compromising his health, safety, morality or education '. She was also accused of publicly exposing her children through her social networks, which led to two MPs, Bruno Studer and Sarah Tanzilli, to report her actions to a judge.
===Breach of trust===
Poupette Kenza was accused of breach of trust in connection with a humanitarian fundraising campaign for a Moroccan orphanage. In July 2023, an agreement was reached and the association declared that it would not take the case to court.
===Accusation of anti-Semitism===
In May 2024, Poupette Kenza made headlines following comments denounced by some as potentially anti-Semitic. On 15 May, in the context of the Israeli war on Hamas, she declared in an Instagram story: 'I won't work with any Zionist or Jewish person'.. This statement drew the wrath of a number of Jewish community organisations, including the Union des étudiants juifs de France, which announced that it would lodge a complaint. In the aftermath, the influencer apologised, explaining that she had misspoken and claiming that she was not anti-Semitic, but 'just against Zionists and those who finance genocide'. According to Le Point, her comments 'seem to be mainly the result of a lack of reflection' and were aimed at avoiding being targeted by the Block Out 2024 campaign, which encourages the blocking on social networks of the accounts of celebrities who do not support the Palestinians
On 17 May, Aurore Bergé, Minister Delegate for Equality between Women and Men and the Fight against Discrimination, announced that the Interministerial Delegation for the Fight against Racism, Anti-Semitism and Anti-LGBT Hatred (DILCRAH) would refer the matter to the Public Prosecutor.
In return, the influencer complained that she was not receiving any support from the Muslim and North African community, and claimed to have received messages of insults and threats from 'Zionists' whom she accused of making her 'a state issue '.
==Legal cases==
===Misleading advertising===
In June 2023, Poupette Kenza was fined €50,000 by the French Direction Générale de la Concurrence, de la Consommation et de la Répression des Fraudes for misleading advertising following the promotion of a teeth whitening device,.
===Extortion of funds===
On 7 July 2024, pregnant with her third child at the age of 24, she was charged with 'attempted extortion in an organised gang' and 'criminal association' and imprisoned.,. She was suspected of plotting what Le Parisien described as 'a scenario worthy of a gangster film', to extort between €200,000 and €350,000 from a former associate
==Private life==
Poupette Kenza is married and has two children.
Category:Internet celebrities
Category:2000 births
Category:People from Rouen
Category:French people