Trans woman wins lawsuit against social app that excluded trans woman for not being cisgender
The app has been ordered to pay her $10,000 Australian (about $6,800 U.S.), plus legal fees. In a summary judgement, Justice Robert James Bromwich of Australia’s Federal Court writes: “I find that Ms Tickle has failed to prove her claim of direct discrimination based on gender identity, but her claim of indirect discrimination based on gender identity is successful.” “I will also order the respondents to pay Ms Tickle compensation in the sum of $10,000 and to pay her costs, with a cap in respect of costs to do with the constitutional validity and statutory construction issues.”
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The lawsuit concerned Roxanne Tickle, a trans woman who was a user of Giggle in 2021 before being banned. The app had marketed itself as being made only for women and was created by CEO Sall Grover, who has been a prominent self-described TERF activist.
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Giggle used facial recognition via KairosAI gender detection software to screen out those they deemed “men.” Tickle had been let through Giggle’s facial recognition algorithm and was deemed a woman by the app and used the app for seven months. She only noticed that she had been banned in early October or September last year. Grover had manually removed Tickle because she didn’t look “female” enough. The indirect discrimination case has succeeded because Ms Tickle was excluded from the use of the Giggle App because she did not look sufficiently female, according to the respondents,” said Bromwich.
“This finding applies only to the act of excluding Ms Tickle from the Giggle App. This does not include her being denied readmission due to a lack of evidence or to prove that a positive decision was taken not to let her back into the Giggle app. She sought damages of $200,000 for the misgendering. Grover was officially reprimanded after this was used to prove that she discriminated against Tickle. She also openly told the court she would not gender Tickle correctly.
Grover said on social media of the court battle: “Unfortunately, we got the judgement we anticipated. The fight for women’s rights continues. #TickleVGiggle”
Unfortunately, we got the judgement we anticipated.
The fight for women’s rights continues. #TickleVGiggle
— Sall Grover (@salltweets) August 22, 2024
The ruling shows that all women are protected from discrimination.” The ruling shows that all women are protected from discrimination.”
“I brought my case to show trans people that you can be brave and you can stand up for yourself. I can go on living my life, have coffee with my friends and play hockey with my team.
