A Somali migrant deported from the United States and labelled an "illegal scumbag" by the White House for aiding the kidnapping of two French spies in Mogadishu may have been wrongly accused.

Mahad Maxamud returned to a hero's welcome in Somalia last month, not least because he is a hugely popular social media star whose online rants have earned him more than 450,000 TikTok followers.

US authorities linked him to the long-running insurgent group Al-Shabaab, which has ties to Al-Qaeda.

But some in Somalia suspect he was the victim of online rivals, thanks to the often aggressive and ethnically tinged roasting contests that occur between Somali TikTokers.

AFP spent weeks investigating Maxamud and gained testimony from Somali and French intelligence sources, who cast doubt on the accusati

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