TikTok deleted the user's account on April 15 and the content is now inaccessible, a representative of the social network said. — AFP
PARIS: TikTok has banished a user who posted a "starter kit" meme targeting Gisele Pelicot, a French feminist icon who survived nearly a decade of rapes by dozens of men, the popular video app said on April 16.
Social networks have been awash with "starter pack" or "starter kit" memes made up of several photos that usually describe an experience.
TikTok deleted the user's account on April 15 and the content is now inaccessible, a representative of the social network told AFP.
"A man is using Gisele Pelicot's image to promote a libertine dating site," the feminist account Ovairestherainbow said on Instagram.
"It is clearly an apology for rape," said the account with more than 90,000 followers.
The feminist account posted the AI-generated "starter pack" meme that showed a pyjama-clad doll in the likeness of 72-year-old Gisele Pelicot, along with a bed, a pill and a camera.
The meme also featured a "4+" age grading symbol, the words "pre-order your Gisele" and a link to a libertine website.
French news channel BFM said the image had racked up at least 30,000 views.
The broadcaster said the man behind the image had previously posted content denigrating Pelicot, and "even a photo of a board game called 'don't wake Gisele'."
Pelicot garnered international acclaim for refusing to be ashamed in the trial of her ex-husband last year over him orchestrating her sexual abuse for almost a decade.
Dominique Pelicot, her now former husband, drugged her for nearly a decade so he and dozens of strangers he recruited online could rape her.
A French court in December sentenced Dominique Pelicot to 20 years in prison.
His 50 co-defendants were also found guilty and handed sentences of between three and 15 years. – AFP
