Thousands of intimate or fake photos of shared women online, virulent and misogynist comments: the scandal that shakes Italy causes an unprecedented “digital metoo” in a country where women’s speaking sometimes remains difficult.
The Rome prosecution was seized of two cases that broke out in August.
The first concerned a Facebook group called “Mia Moglie” (my wife), in which thousands of users shared photos of women taken without their knowledge.
A few days later, a site, Phica.net (“Fica” being a vulgar term to designate the female sex), active for several years but spent under radars, was in turn implicated for its stolen and degrading content including anonymous Italians like public figures, including Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, were victims.
Mia Moglie was closed by Facebook and Phica.netwhich had more than 700,000 users, was closed by its alleged administrator, a 45 -year -old entrepreneur today in the viewfinder of the investigators.
But the scandal, by its magnitude, has been the subject of daily debates and testimonies for a week, the press evoking a “digital metoo” in Italy.
The newspaper “Corriere della will” believe that more than 40 complaints have already been filed. Contacted by AFP, the Rome prosecution has refused to comment.
“Abominable comments”
The mayor of Florence, Sara Funaro, filed a complaint. Giorgia Meloni said he was “disgusted”, in an interview with the “Corriere della will be”.
The head of the main opposition party, Elly Schlein, also victim of the sites, denounced a “culture of rape”.
In addition to known politicians, journalists or artists, other women have testified to their ordeal. Like Anna Madaro, a 35 -year -old content designer, whose complaint also contributed to the breakdown of the case. She said in the newspaper “Repubblica” that she had been “stunned and terrorized” by discovering that photos of her stolen on her social networks have been used for several years, accompanied by “abominable comments”.
The investigation for unlawful broadcasting of private images, defamation, could also expand to the offense of extortion, some victims having been asked for money so that their photos are removed from the sites.
But lawyer Annamaria Bernardini de Pace, who plans a collective complaint, deplores the climate of “fear” surrounding these cases, especially in the case of the Mia Moglie file, this affecting the family circle. “Women say to me: I am afraid of my husband, fear that my son had an accused father, fear of the criticism of my entourage, fear of being alone …”, she said to AFP, rising against “silence, an accomplice of violence”.
“A photo of your ex”
Silvia Semenzin, a sociologist specializing in gender violence and online misogyny, had already made a report of the site Phica In 2019, without there was immediately.
The sociologist, whose work has led to the criminalization in Italy of non -consented sharing of intimate images, had at the time infiltrated the Telegram groups linked to the site. “At the time, he had around 100,000 users, against more than 700,000 today,” she said to AFP.
It describes the freezing functioning of “sexist sites”. Thus, “Phica.net had a section called Revenge Porn, where the Italian girls (whose photos had been stolen or tampered with) were classified by city, by region, by name or first name. In the SPY section (spy), users were explained how to use hidden cameras “in the locker rooms or the fitting cabins of stores, or” how to hack the cameras of the house “.
Research carried out at the time by Ms. Semenzin reproduces edifying user messages:
“The entry tax (of the site) is a photo of your ex”. “Anyone?”. “Follow this girl on Insta, it’s such a slut. I’m sure someone has pictures of her, I count on you guys. ”
The burst of scandal is bursting today, according to Ms. Semenzin from militant work and the extent of the case. “This time, a real metoo broke out, there had never been anything like it in Italy,” she said.
“Today, we can no longer pretend that nothing had happened,” she judges, hoping that the scandal will have the impact that the Pelicot trial had in France in 2024.
The story of Gisèle Pelicot, drugged and raped for years by her husband and the strangers recruited on the Internet, has had a worldwide impact. “In Italy we have talked about it a lot and many think about it, especially with the affair of the Mia Moglie group”, underlines Ms. Semenzin.
