Mamadou Niang, a young Senegalese student, posted a TikTok video in early October in which he claimed to have been rejected from an internship interview due to his foreign nationality. His account was viewed millions of times and moved many social media users. In the aftermath, several accounts posted videos, also widely shared, claiming that the young man had subsequently been invited to the Élysée Palace or that he had received a job offer from the Senegalese president. However, these claims are false, as the person himself has insisted.

" I was rejected from an internship because I'm not French ," says the young Senegalese student in his TikTok video published on October 10, 2025. Since then, the video has garnered nearly 3 million likes and around 200,000 shares. On camera, the young student delivers a testimony, with tears in his eyes throughout his story.

A few days later, videos came back to this story, with supposedly good news, which again went viral.

One, published on October 12 on TikTok , claims that French President Emmanuel Macron will receive at the Elysée Palace " young Mamad, who was a victim of racism because of his nationality ." " According to the press release, this meeting aims to discuss the circumstances of the incident, and to reaffirm the government's commitment to the fight against discrimination ," we can hear in this video, which has accumulated nearly 200,000 " likes " and more than 12,000 shares and according to which a meeting has been set for " Monday ," without specifying a date.

Another video, posted on Instagram , claims that " young Mamad [would have] decided to return to Senegal following an offer from the Senegalese president for a position in the Ministry of Digital Security ." This publication received nearly 43,000 " likes " and around 14,000 shares.

In the comments, many Internet users praised these supposed outcomes: " Best story of revenge on life. Well done young man ," wrote one Internet user under the video about the alleged job offer in Senegal. " They will surely naturalize him ," said another Internet user under the video about Emmanuel Macron's supposed invitation.

But the authors of these videos, who took advantage of the virality of the Senegalese student's story, invented these endings from scratch .

Interviewed by AFP on October 16, Mamadou Niang assured that " there is nothing true " in these publications . These " videos which say that I was invited by Macron to the Elysée or that I was offered a position in I don't know which ministry in Senegal, that I am going to return home: it's totally false! ", he assured in a video published the same day on his TikTok account.

Furthermore, no " ministry of digital security " exists in Senegal, as confirmed by the official list of ministries (link archived here ). Contacted on October 16, 2025 by AFP, a member of the Senegalese presidency 's communications unit stated: " This is the first time I've heard of this story, which seems improbable to me ."

The first video reporting an alleged meeting at the Élysée Palace scheduled for " Monday " was published on Sunday, October 12. But there is no record of such a meeting on Monday, October 13. As for Monday, October 20, a source at the Élysée Palace, without wanting to dwell too much on this story, explained to AFP on October 17 that Emmanuel Macron was due to leave France " early " that day, for a trip to Slovenia.

Furthermore, a keyword search on the Elysée website did not reveal any " communiqué " or the slightest mention of a meeting between Emmanuel Macron and Mamadou Niang, regardless of the date.

A story manipulated by a fake news media

AFP Factuel tracked down the TikTok and Instagram accounts behind these rumors. Their name—"alertemédia18"—and the format of their content suggest they mimic the codes of mainstream news media while spreading false information. A brief analysis of their editorial line and content reveals that these are unreliable sources: their biographies even indicate that their content is " 50% " or even " 90% " parody, and go so far as to urge Internet users " not to believe them."

Many sensationalist false claims are posted on these types of TikTok accounts , which present themselves as news outlets. Their goal? To generate an audience, and therefore revenue. To do this, they often rely on quickly produced content, using video clips found elsewhere on the internet and a voiceover generated by artificial intelligence (AI).

This is the case in the videos inventing endings to Mamadou Niang's story. They use images of the student and the French and Senegalese presidents found on social media. And the audio accompanying these images has a 99% chance of having been generated by AI, according to analysis by the Hiya.com deepfake detector offered by the verification tool InVID-WeVerify .

No appointment at the Elysée

The fake posts about Mamadou Niang reminded some internet users of stories of young African migrants who were actually greeted by the French president, after videos went viral on social media.

In 2018, Mamoudou Gassama , a Malian migrant, was naturalized as a French citizen after climbing a Parisian building to save a child who was in danger of falling from a balcony (archived link here ). Emmanuel Macron, impressed by his act of bravery, which was filmed and broadcast online, received him at the Élysée Palace.

More recently, on July 4, 2025, Fousseynou Cissé , a 39-year-old Senegalese receptionist, rescued six people trapped in their apartment by a fire in Paris. His act of courage, also filmed and going viral, earned him an invitation, along with his family, to the Bastille Day celebrations, during which he was warmly greeted by the French president (archived links here and here ).

Fousseynou Samba Cissé risked his life to save a family from a fire. Awarded the Medal of Honor for his courage and dedication, he is standing alongside our heroes this morning at Place de la Concorde.

Cintia Nabi CABRAL (AFP FACTUAL)

Auteur: Cintia Nabi CABRAL (AFP FACTUEL)
Publié le: Mardi 28 Octobre 2025

Tags

• Diomaye Faye
• Elysée
• Emmanuel Macron
• emplois fictifs
• étudiant sénégalais
• fausse information
• Mamadou Niang
• TikTok