A French telephone hotline created to shame men who harassed women has been shut down after internet trolls sent waves of insulting messages to the service.
The “anti-relou” (anti annoyance) mobile phone service was launched on Friday. It encouraged women to give out the number of the hotline to men who were harassing them.
Over-persistent males who contacted the number, received a text message that said: “Hello! If you’re reading this message it’s because you have made a woman uncomfortable … It’s not complicated: if a woman says ‘no’ don’t insist. Learn to respect women’s freedom and their decisions. Thank you.”
The “anti-relou” number was set up by feminist activists Clara Gonzales and Elliot Lepers in the wake of the “Me too” social network campaign in response to the Harvey Weinstein scandal. It was inspired by a “Rejection Hotline” that was set up by American feminist website The Mary Sue.
Mr Lepers and Ms Gonzales were forced to axe the phone service on Tuesday when the number received over 20,000 insulting messages with each response to the messages costing 16 cents.
In a statement published on Facebook on Monday, they said that they believed that trolls were seeking to cause financial damage to “stop the service.”
They said: “We were the victims of a coordinated attack against the service and a campaign of harassment against us personally.”
Alongside the insulting calls, the pair said they received harassing messages on Twitter including death threats.
Food orders were also sent to their homes.
Mr Lepers and Ms Gonzales said they want a “government response that matches the expectations expressed by the whole of society in recent weeks concerning the fight against violence targeting women."
They have said that they hope to reactivate a similar service and have set up a crowd funding page.
The Evening Standard has reached out to Mr Lepers and Ms Gonzales for further comment.
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