Women’s boxing at the Olympics does not typically end up on the front page of the news, but this year saw Algerian boxer Imane Kelif become a leading topic after she became the target of transphobic hate messages and intense online discourse after Italian boxer Angela Carini quite less than a minute into their quarterfinal fight after taking a Khelif punch to the face.
Khelif, despite being born female and identifying as female, became a trending topic as misinformation spread across social media over accusations she was a trans athlete — despite competing for Algeria, which has extremely stringent laws against the LGBTQ+ community. Many prominent voices joined in commenting on Khelif’s presence in the Olympics on social media, including the likes of J.K. Rowling and Elon Musk, who pushed and amplified the (false) uproar over Khelif’s sexual identity.
After Khelif won the gold medal at 66kg in Paris, she went on to file a cyberbullying lawsuit in France, which Variety confirmed includes Rowling and Musk as part of the complaint filed against individuals that posted hateful messages and spread misinformation on X.
The lawsuit was filed against X, which under French law means that it was filed against unknown persons. That “ensure[s] that the ‘prosecution has all the latitude to be able to investigate against all people,” including those who may have written hateful messages under pseudonyms, said Boudi. The complaint nevertheless mentions famously controversial figures.
“J. K. Rowling and Elon Musk are named in the lawsuit, among others,” he said, adding that Donald Trump would be part of the investigation. “Trump tweeted, so whether or not he is named in our lawsuit, he will inevitably be looked into as part of the prosecution.”
The complaint was sent to France’s national center for combating online hate. It’s not immediately clear what leverage the French prosecutor’s office would have against people living in outside of France, although Khelif’s lawyer states the French can request legal assistance from other countries. If this should make it to court, it would figure to be a landmark case regarding hate speech on social media.