Paris (AFP)
A video posted on social networks showing two men in sexual intercourse provoked on Tuesday and Wednesday a wave of homophobic comments on Twitter and forced a young man from Noisiel (Seine-et-Marne) to flee France, according to the association Urgence homophobia.
Recognized by the other inhabitants of this city in the suburbs of Paris, the young man "left France and went abroad, according to his relatives," the spokesman told AFP from the Marine Giner-Dufour association.
"Cyberbullying, already very violent, has resulted in direct harassment on his private number, threats and he was afraid to be attacked directly," she added. "This story shows that cyberbullying has very real consequences in people's lives."
Since Tuesday, the #Noisiel keyword has been shared several thousand times and has been the subject of many homophobic comments on Twitter. Reactions that angered several associations and some members of the political class.
The candidate LREM at the mayor of Paris, Cédric Villani, in particular shared on Twitter his "immense feeling of disgust discovering the surge of homophobic tweets" related to this story. "The young man who is the victim must have our full support," he added.
Beyond reactions, LGBT advocacy organizations "want deeds," insisted Ms. Giner-Dufour. Despite the current adoption of a law against cyberstalking, which includes imposing on internet platforms and social networks, Facebook and Twitter in mind, to remove within 24 hours any hate speech, "the change is not fairly fast, "she said.
"Twitter is not doing its job at all: the video has been deleted from the main account (which published it), but it was taken over by other accounts and it was still running this afternoon," she said. . "We need mechanisms that remind people that sharing such videos is punishable by two years of imprisonment and a 30,000 euro fine."
In 2018, LGBT people reported 231 physical assaults on SOS Homophobia, a historic record after a 66% year-over-year increase. And the Internet remains "the first place of expression of LGBTphobies," lamented the association during the presentation of its annual report in May.
© 2019 AFP