During the 2024 Paris Olympics, Algerian boxer Imane Khelif became the center of a bizarre conspiracy theory. Despite the athlete being born female and not identifying as transgender or intersex, a rumor began that she was a trans woman, and assigned male at birth. Even with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) asserting “scientifically, this is not a man fighting a woman.”
Khelif received a wave of harassment across social media. Her taking home the gold medal in the women’s welterweight boxing competition only fueled this fire.
Khelif’s Lawsuit
She is refusing to take this harassment lying down. She has filed a criminal complaint with French authorities over alleged “acts of aggravated cyber harassment.” On August 13th, The National Center for the Fight Against Online Hatred contacted the Central Office for the Fight Against Crimes Against Humanity and Hate Crimes (OCLCH) to conduct an investigation into the counts of cyber harassment due to gender, public insult because of gender, public incitement to discrimination and public insult because of origin,” according to the Paris Prosecutor’s Office.
This lawsuit was filed against X (formally Twitter), since it was the source of most of the harassment. Under French law, this means it is filed against unknown persons to “ensure[s] that the ‘prosecution has all the latitude to be able to investigate against all people,” said Khelif‘s attorney Nabil Boudi. This is done to allow the inclusion of hateful comments left under pseudonyms.
Who Will Be Investigated?
Even so, the suit does mention a few well-known transphobes that participated in harassing Khelif. “J. K. Rowling and Elon Musk are named in the lawsuit, among others,” Boudi explains. Donald Trump “tweeted, so whether or not he is named in our lawsuit, he will inevitably be looked into as part of the prosecution.”
All three posted messages to their legions of followers harassing and misgendering Khelif. Rowling posted a picture from Khelif’s fight with Italian boxer Angela Carini, disturbingly accusing Khelif of “enjoying the distress of a woman he’s just punched in the head.” [No, SHE was enjoying participating in a sport that Carini also agreed to participate in.]
Musk, let others do the work for him by sharing a post from swimmer Riley Gaines saying “men don’t belong in women’s sports.” The X owner captioned the post with “Absolutely.” Meanwhile, Trump posted a picture from the fight with Carina saying “I will keep men out of women’s sports!” [The staff here at Nerdbot are no experts, but we are fairly certain the president of the United States doesn’t have that kind of control over the Olympics.]
While these three figures certainly played a part in this juvenile cyberbullying, “What we’re asking is that the prosecution investigates not only these people but whoever it feels necessary. If the case goes to court, they will stand trial,” says Boudi.
More Could Be Involved
This means the suit “could target personalities overseas,” he explains “the prosecutor’s office for combating online hate speech has the possibility to make requests for mutual legal assistance with other countries.” There are currently agreements with the U.S. equivalent of the French office for combating online hate speech.
This means personalities like Logan Paul could also be investigated like Trump. Paul posted an image of the Carini fight to X. “This is the purest form of evil unfolding right before our eyes,” the caption read. “A man was allowed to beat up a woman on a global stage, crushing her life’s dream while fighting for her deceased father. This delusion must end.”
Paul later deleted the post and psudo-apologized since he “might be guilty of spreading misinformation.” It seems that Khelif has also received some private apologies about the matter. But that will not spare anyone from investigation. “The lawsuit is filed and the facts remain,” her lawyer says. Actions have consequences and social media followers don’t change that.
Other Suits Filed
Unfortunately, Khelif’s wasn’t the only complaint about online harassment launched during the Paris Olympics. Prosecutors are also investigating a complaint filed by Thomas Jolly, the artistic director of the opening and closing ceremonies, due to being “the target of threatening messages and insults.” DJ Barbara Butch says she received online harassment, death threats, and insults following the opening ceremony. Celebrated drag queen Nicky Doll also filed about harassment.
We hope anyone who is harassed, misgendered, or threatened receives the justice that they deserve.
