A month and a half after the suicide of Lindsay, the 13-year-old girl harassed by other students at her college in Vendin-le-Vieil (Pas-de-Calais), her parents decided to organize a second white march on June 18. Initially, it was to pay tribute to the memory of the teenager, as was already the case at the first rally on May 24, before the case was publicized. But Lindsay's family decided to extend the instruction to make it an event dedicated to the fight against bullying and cyberbullying that plagues social networks. This second march, if it were to gather several thousand people, could be relocated to Lens, the neighboring town of Vendin-le-Vieil where the first rally was held.
This desire to mobilize more widely against harassment follows the meeting of Lindsay's mother with Brigitte Macron, the wife of the President of the Republic. At the end of this interview, Wednesday evening, Betty Gervois had said she wanted to get involved in this fight. "It was raised that Betty would be the ambassador of the pHARe program (the plan to prevent and fight bullying in schools) and the entire fight against the scourge of bullying and cyberbullying. We expect pragmatic answers in relation to everything that will be implemented vis-à-vis social networks, it is our main concern today, "said Pierre Debuisson, the lawyer of Lindsay's family, present during the interview with the first lady.
Four criminal complaints
At a press conference on June 1, the parents of the teenager had explained that they had filed four criminal complaints against the Lille academy, the principal of Bracke-Desrousseaux College, the police and against Meta France. They consider that the publisher of Facebook and Instagram did nothing to prevent the spread of messages of insults, hatred, or even death threats, which Lindsay was receiving on social networks.
In her speech to the National Assembly on Wednesday, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said she had "asked the ministers of the Interior, Justice and Digital to support the Minister of National Education in order to be more effective in preventing and punishing harassment, particularly on social networks".
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An interministerial meeting is to be held soon, while the State seems powerless against the digital giants. "The state will make them take their responsibilities in terms of removing hateful content," said Pap Ndiaye, the Minister of National Education.
