The Paris prosecutor’s office closed its investigation into suspicions of cyberbullying from the Facebook group the “LOL League”, a haunt of journalists and communicators in the early 2010s, AFP learned on Friday from a source familiar with the matter.
The Paris public prosecutor’s office confirmed the closing without further action in February 2022 for “insufficiently characterized offense” of this file which had caused a scandal in the profession at the beginning of 2019, but also dismissals then at least two decisions of the prud’hommes for the benefit of misfits. in question.
Two newspapers condemned to industrial tribunals
Following an investigation by the Liberation site Checknews, many Internet users had accused several former members of the Facebook group, mainly journalists and communicators, and other outsiders, of having harassed them on the Internet at the turn of the 2010s, or to have, through their public criticisms, launched digital “packs” against them.
These accusations had led to the dismissal of some people accused of harassment. Since then, Liberation and Les Inrocks have been condemned by the Paris industrial tribunal for the dismissal of two of their journalists. The daily appealed.
Alexandre Hervaud, another dismissed Liberation journalist, had been dismissed by the industrial tribunal. He appealed. “This information is not a surprise and shows that after a long investigation of three years, the media story of a harassing group did not hold”, reacted the person concerned.
“This devastating event ruined dozens of lives with layoffs, suicide attempts and depression. These people still suffer from it today,” he said. Beyond the specific case, the affair had provoked an important debate on sexism in the journalistic world.
More information to follow…