Woman behind French #MeToo movement fined

A Paris court ruled on Wednesday that the woman who launched the French version of the #MeToo movement must pay 20,000 euros ($22,000) for defaming the man she accused of harassment.

French journalist Sandra Muller said she fears the message of the decision is “be quiet.”

Muller launched #balancetonporc, which roughly translates as “squeal on your pig, ”at the height of the global movement against sexual misconduct in October 2017 when she tweeted that former TV channel executive Eric Brion made sexually explicit comments to her.

TIME Magazine featured Muller among #MeToo “silence breakers” in its 2017 “Person of the Year” edition.

Brion, former head of television channel Equidia, took Muller to court over the tweets, arguing that they harmed him and that his remarks to Muller were not harassment. The court ruled in his favor, ordered Muller to delete her tweets and to pay Brion $16,400 in damages and $5,400 in legal fees.