Not many had heard of Mrz Thoppi until June 24 when his arrest made news. The YouTuber was nabbed by the police from an apartment in Kochi in a dramatic midnight ‘operation’ on charges of posting explicit content and obstructing traffic during a shop inauguration at Valanchery in Malappuram.
His tribe of followers – mostly schoolchildren – was quick to register their protest on social media. Some even threatened to boycott school.
Mohammed Nihad, aka Thoppi, is a gamer, whose expletive-laden content is consumed by over 7 lakh subscribers on YouTube. He was also accused of fuelling trans and Islamophobia. Several social observers concluded that Thoppi was representative of an anarchic Internet subculture that is subversive, misogynistic, even violent.
