Anti-Trans ‘Female Only’ App Fails In Its Bid To Get Discrimination Suit Dismissed
Image: Sall Grover ( left) founder and CEO of Giggle App and Katherine Deves, former Liberal candidate for Warringah. Image: Instagram
A landmark discrimination suit filed by trans advocate Roxanne Tickle against an Australian anti-trans ‘female-only’ app Giggle will proceed in the Federal Court.
Giggle, which is represented by failed Warringah candidate Katherine Deves, lost in their attempt to thwart the discrimination suit filed in the federal court by Tickle.
Tickle filed the landmark suit against Giggle and its Founder and CEO Sall Grover, after the app which bills itself as a “female-only social media feed and female-only dating platform”, blocked her account as she was “considered a male”.
Giggle Ordered To Pay Legal Costs For A Hearing
Justice Robert Bromwich on Thursday allowed Tickle’s application for an extension and to limit the legal costs that she would be required to pay if she loses to $50,000.
The court dismissed Giggle’s objection to the competency of the petition, which means that the federal court will hear the discrimination suit. The court also ordered the makers of the app to pay Tickle’s legal costs for an earlier hearing.
The Giggle app was launched by Grover in 2020. A message on Grover’s Twitter account says that the app is “closed and under construction for renovations, updates and rebranding”. The app is currently available on Apple’s App Store.
The app reportedly uses biometric screening and AI facial recognition technology to ban men and trans women. The app faced criticism for misgendering women of color and collecting personal data.
‘App Discriminates Against Trans Women’
In a complaint filed before the Australian Human Rights Commission in 2021, Tickle said: “I believe that I am being discriminated against by being provided with extremely limited functionality of a smartphone app by the app provider compared to that of other users because I am a transgender woman.”
.”The app provider appears not to recognise transgender women as female. I am legally permitted to identify as female,” Tickle said in her complaint.
She withdrew her complaint and lodged a suit before the Federal court in July 2022. She withdrew the case due to lack of funds and approached the court again in 2022 with a fresh discrimination suit seeking a public apology, access to the app and aggravated damages from Giggle and Grover.
Giggle has claimed that Tickle’s account was removed after examining her selfie and that it was not because of her gender identity.
