Overview

• Administrators took phica.eu offline on Thursday, saying they closed the forum due to “toxic behaviours” after a wave of legal complaints and public condemnation.
• The site hosted thousands of harvested and manipulated images of women, including Giorgia Meloni, Elly Schlein, Chiara Ferragni and EU lawmaker Alessandra Moretti, often paired with vulgar or violent commentary.
• Meloni called the abuse “disgusting” and urged that those responsible be identified and punished with the utmost firmness, expressing solidarity with affected women.
• Dozens of women filed complaints and a Change.org petition surpassing 150,000 signatures demanded the site’s shutdown, following Meta’s recent removal of the Italian Facebook group “Mia Moglie.”
• Reports differ on Phica’s scale, with figures ranging from over 200,000 registered members to more than 700,000 subscribers, and the platform is reported to have operated since 2005.