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A website showing doctored images of thousands of Italian women including Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has closed down after a significant backlash.
The scandal involving the online forum Phica, whose name is a play on the Italian word for vagina, was brought to public attention by MEP Alessandra Moretti, who lodged a complaint with the police.
Unauthorised pictures of Moretti appeared on the site along with those of other high-profile figures such as Elly Schlein, the secretary of the country’s main opposition party.
The images were accompanied by sexist and explicit comments.
“They have been stealing photos and clips from TV shows I’ve appeared on for years, then altering them and feeding them to thousands of users,” Moretti said.
Although complaints had been previously lodged against the site, it had been able to operate “with impunity”, she noted.
“This type of site, which incites rape and violence, must be shut down and banned,″ Moretti added.
Her appeal was taken up by other colleagues, including the politician Alessia Morani, who also reported the website.
“The comments are frankly unacceptable and obscene, and they offend my dignity as a woman,” Morani wrote in a Facebook post.
“Unfortunately, I’m not alone, and we must all report these groups of men who continue to act in gangs and go unpunished despite the numerous complaints,” she said.
“I’m deeply shocked by what happened, but I believe we must all react together.”
Following the remarks and further criticism, the forum’s administrators announced on Thursday that it would be shut down.
They claimed that the “toxic behaviours” were the result of “wrong use of the platform, which damaged its original spirit”.
The scandal came a week after Meta closed an Italian Facebook group called Mia Moglie (My Wife), following pressure from activists.
The company said it took down the page with tens of thousands of members, where men posted intimate images of their partners and other women, “for violating our adult sexual exploitation policies”.
In response to the latest misogyny scandal, Sabrina Frasca, an activist with the anti-violence group Differenza Donna, said: “Digital tools became not only a way for men to exercise control over women, but are increasingly used to offend, humiliate and attack them.”
Martina Semenzato, president of the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry into Femicide, said that the use of non-consensual images “leaves us horrified”.
