A Paris court has ordered the French journalist credited with spearheading the #MeToo movement in France to pay damages for defaming a man she accused of making lewd comments about her at a party.
The court ruled in favor of television executive Eric Brion, who asserts he has been the target of journalist Sandra Muller’s viral anti-sexual harassment campaign across social media since October 2017. Muller accused Brion of making lewd comments about her at a party in 2012 and sexually harassing her in the workplace. While Brion admitted to making inappropriate comments at the party, he flatly denies ever sexually harassing Muller. He claims to have also sent an apology for the remarks the following day, to which he never received a response.
Muller created the hashtag #balancetonporc, or “expose your pig,” in the wake of the #MeToo movement in the United States, which quickly went viral and propelled her into the spotlight as a pioneer for exposing sexual harassment in France.
Brion claims that Muller’s online assault against him has cost him his career. “Muller’s violence against me has never stopped,” he said. “The violence of people hiding behind their phones.” Brion also indicated he would have been better off being tried in a legal court than by the public who had been encouraged to “name and shame” harassers on social media.
Muller was ordered to pay $16,500 in damages to Brion as well as $5,484 to cover his legal fees. Muller was also ordered to remove a tweet that accused Brion of sexual harassment and to publicly post remarks by the court that led them to their decision. Brion’s lawyer Nicolas Benoit said his client felt the decision brought a “certain degree of relief and reaffirms he has never harassed Sandra Muller.”
Muller, who is based in New York, expressed disappointment in the Wednesday ruling. “This decision does not mean women have to stop talking,” she said. “Women have to keep expressing themselves, women have to continue denouncing reprehensible behaviors — all of them. Fear must not win.”
