The website showing images of thousands of Italian women doctors, including Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, was closed after a significant backlash.
The scandal involving Phica on the online forum is a play of Italian language in the name of the vagina, which has been attracted attention by the public by MEP Alessandra Moretti and filed a complaint with the police.
Moretti’s fraudulent photos appeared on the site along with photos of other well-known figures, including Elly Schlein, the secretary of the country’s major opposition parties.
The images were accompanied by sexist and explicit comments.
“They’re stealing photos and clips from TV shows I’ve appeared in for years and modifying them to give them to thousands of users,” Moretti said.
The complaint had previously been filed against the site but was able to work with a “disclaimer,” she noted.
“This type of site that incites rape and violence must be closed and banned,” added Moretti.
Her complaint was picked up by other colleagues, including politician Alesia Morani, who reported on the website.
“Comments are frankly unacceptable, indecent and lewd, and anger my dignity as a woman,” Morani wrote in a Facebook post.
“Unfortunately, I’m not alone. We all have to continue to act in the gang and report these groups of men who are not punished despite many complaints,” she said.
“I’m deeply shocked by what happened, but I believe we all have to respond together.”
Following the remarks and further criticism, the forum administrators announced that it would be closed on Thursday.
They argued that “toxic behavior” was “the result of misuse of platforms that destroyed the original spirit.”
The scandal comes a week after Meta shut down an Italian Facebook group called Mia Mogley (my wife), following pressure from activists.
The company said that in breaching adult sexual exploitation policies, men defeated the page along with tens of thousands of members who posted intimate images of their partners and other women.
In response to the latest misogyny scandal, Sabrina Frasca, an activist with anti-violent group Diferenza Donna, said, “Digital tools are increasingly being used for humiliation, humiliation and attack, not only to become a way for men to control women.”
Martina Semenzato, president of the Congressional Committee on Inquiry on Murder, said using the image of nonconsensus “makes us horrible.”
