French journalists suspended for targeting women in Facebook group

Several senior French journalists have been suspended or fired for allegedly co-ordinating online harassment through a private Facebook group.

The largely-male Ligue du LOL (League of LOL) mocked women, including other journalists, with rape jokes and photoshopped pornographic images.

The closed Facebook group "League of LOL" -- made up mostly of men in their thirties -- ridiculed women journalists for years, sometimes using pornographic memes to attack them.

Women seen as feminist were the group's favorite targets.

The founder of the group, journalist Vincent Glad, was suspended Monday by left-wing daily Liberation after an investigation by the newspaper's own fact-checking unit exposed its existence.

Dozens of women have spoken out since the group was uncovered by the major French daily Libération.

Libération's online editor Alexandre Hervaud is among those suspended.

People in the League of LOL set up anonymous Twitter accounts in order to harass prominent journalists, writers, and activists - predominantly targeting women.

Vincent Glad, a well-known freelancer who also worked for Libération, admitted founding the group in 2009. He has also been suspended from the paper.

Libération is now carrying out an internal investigation into both Hervaud and Glad.

Victims of the group recounted how the attacks and pranks had pushed one woman to quit journalism and left another suicidal.

Journalist Nora Bouazzouni, Slate France reporter Lucile Bellan, and podcaster Mélanie Wanga have all described being targeted by the group.

League of LOL targeted science presenter Florence Porcel, seeking to humiliate her by getting group members to pose as the producers of a prestigious television programme offering her a job, then posted the recording of the fake interview online.

Other women had their heads grafted onto pornographic images.

David Doucet, the editor of French magazine Les Inrockuptibles, confessed to being behind the fake interview and publicly apologized to Porcel.

Others implicated in the scandal include senior journalists and executives from major outlets including Slate France and public relations firm Publicis.