A Milan court docket has ordered a journalist to pay Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni 5,000 euros ($5,465) in damages for mocking her in a social media put up, the ANSA information company and different native media reported.
Journalist Giulia Cortese was additionally fined €1,200 for a Twitter taunt, now referred to as X, in October 2021 about Meloni’s top, which was described as “bodyshaming”.
Meloni took authorized motion in opposition to Cortese after the 2 ladies clashed on social media.
Meloni, whose far-right Brothers of Italy celebration was in opposition on the time, was upset when Cortese posted a mocked-up picture of herself with a picture of the late fascist chief Benito Mussolini within the background.
Cortese responded with extra tweets, together with one which learn, “You do not scare me, Giorgia Meloni. In any case, you are solely 4 ft tall. I am unable to even see you.”
Meloni’s top is listed between 1.58m and 1.63m on numerous media web sites.
Cortese can attraction the sentence, and Meloni’s lawyer mentioned the prime minister would donate any damages she finally receives to charity.
The excessive variety of lawsuits filed in opposition to journalists was denounced this 12 months by Reporters With out Borders, which relegated Italy 5 locations, to forty sixth, in its 2024 World Press Freedom Index, opens in new tab.
This isn’t the primary time Meloni has taken journalists to court docket. Final 12 months, a Rome court docket fined best-selling writer Roberto Saviano 1,000 euros plus authorized charges after he insulted her on tv in 2021 for her hardline stance on unlawful immigration.
Journalists at Italian public radio RAI went on strike in Could to protest the “suffocating management” exercised by the Meloni authorities over their work.
