An Australian-run female-only social media platform Giggle has been accused by a transwoman of discrimination following the company allegedly identifying them as male.
In a Federal Court lawsuit filed on December 22, Australian transgender woman Roxanne Tickle alleged she was unlawfully barred from using Giggle in September 2021 after the firm and its CEO Sally ‘Sall’ Grover said she was a man.
The transactivist from New South Wales is seeking damages, a written apology and complete access to the platform.
Tickle’s access was revoked despite an alleged selfie being approved by Giggle’s artificial intelligence in February 2021, allowing Tickle full site access.
In documents filed with the court, Tickle said that attempts to contact Giggle or Grover in the months after they were barred were unsuccessful,
“I believe that I am being discriminated against by being provided with extremely limited functionality of a smartphone app by the app provider compared to that of other users because I am a transgender woman,” Tickle wrote in a complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission filed in December 2021.
“The app provider appears not to recognise transgender women as female. I am legally permitted to identify as female.”
On March 3, 2022, Giggle’s lawyers at the Feminist Legal Clinic responded to the complaint, saying Tickle was “considered male” based on the individual’s appearance in the selfie and that this was why they had been removed.
“(Ms Tickle’s) gender identity was not known to (Ms Grover) or other Giggle personnel at the time of removal and did not inform the decision to preclude (Ms Tickle) from the app,” the lawyers wrote.
In a tweet on March 22, Grover referred to Tickle as a “trans-identified male”.
“In January 2022, I received an Australian Human Rights Commission complaint against both Giggle & me personally, from a trans-identified male who wants to use a social networking app for females & for me to be re-educated on sex & gender,” she wrote.
An open letter on Grover’s Twitter page says she created Giggle after suffering abuse and being told she needed a “strong female support network”.
Grover claims she initially allowed transgender women onto the platform but changed this policy after receiving death threats through “Kill TERF” groups on the app.
After initially suing Giggle and Grover in the Federal Circuit and Family Court in July this year, Tickle dropped the case, afraid of the legal costs after hearing the firm’s CEO Grover would take the matter all the way to the High Court if she had to.
Tickle noted in the court documents that due to “limited funding” to pursue the lawsuit, she is asking the Federal Court for approval to launch her case out of time.
