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Woman at the wheel, accident at the turn", "Manon she killed Maxime's race, she can puncture" or "You're not ashamed Manon?! Why do we invite women to these events? Never invite him again"... Since Saturday, September 9, the name "Manon", of the youtuber Manon Lanza, has been one of the most mentioned keywords of X (formerly Twitter) all weekend.
On the social network, Internet users are thousands to call for the rape or even the murder of the young woman. The same violent messages multiply in the comments of the streamer's Instagram page and under the videos of her YouTube channel. At the origin of this violence, the GP Explorer 2, the car race organized by the youtubeur Squeezie and broadcast live on the streaming platform Twitch. During the event, which took place at the Bugatti Circuit in Le Mans, videographer Manon Lanza collided with the car of the very popular streamer Maxime Biaggi. As a result of the incident, both participants were eliminated from the race.
The young woman ended up in hospital and is currently recovering from chest shock and cervical hernia. But she must also face the outpouring of hatred from part of the streamer community, who judge her responsible for her elimination. "I am shocked to land in top trends on X in front of a deadly earthquake in Morocco," she reacted Monday in the columns of the Parisian. " They use me to put back a layer of sexism." As for the organization of the GP Explorer, it was only the day after the race, Sunday, September 10, that an official message of support for Manon Lanza was published. And, at the moment, Squeezie, the main instigator of this F4 race, has not communicated on the cyberharassment suffered by the youtuber.
The streamer Maxime Biaggi, hit in his race by Manon Lanza, cracked a simple "Force to Manon" in an ephemeral story on Instagram. On his account X, he did not call on his community to support the young woman or avoid any form of harassment against her. "How is it possible that the organizers and the 24 participants as a whole did not condemn this cyberbullying in a common way?" asked several Internet users.
Organizers who want to avoid being divisive
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This is a problem that we see since Zevent, the charity event organized on the Twitch platform by the streamer Zerator, "says streamer Nat'ali, founder of the association Furax which raises funds against violence against women. "These events, like this one, are mostly organized for men and by men. Women are few and, upstream, there is no mechanism to avoid cyberharassment of guests." During the edition of the Zevent organized in 2021, the streamer Ultia, invited to the event, had denounced live the sexist behavior of the youtuber Inoxtag towards another influencer.
For the young woman, this speech of a few minutes led to immediate cyberbullying. It has been going on for almost three years. Last October, Ultia even decided to file a complaint after yet another wave of threats of rape and death on social networks. But on the side of Zevent in 2021, no message of support from the organization, even to condemn the dangers of cyberbullying, was published for several hours. "The videographers who organize these events are first focused on making views and continuing the storytelling around their personal success," Nat'ali continues.
A lack of prevention upstream
The association Nous Tous published a statement this weekend to call on online event organizers to take responsibility. "This requires zero tolerance for harassment: if a user harasses a participant, he must be banned from the channels. We need reminders before, during and after the event as well as a focus on women often relegated to the background, "says the statement.
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It should not be forgotten that most of these popular youtubers or streamers are young. They are seen as geniuses by their community and they have never had to suffer such social violence, "says streamer Nat'ali. A pricing that pushes the influencers in question to avoid divisive topics, synonymous with loss of followers and money. And therefore not to do the prevention deemed necessary by most streamers and associations like Nous Toutes. "Being divisive by denouncing the cyberharassment of their female colleagues is not an option, so usually the organizers put a 'band-aid'," notes the streamer. In short, they communicate after the event, in an awkward and individual way."
Women absent from major events
Rather than work on real prevention, some streamers even prefer to avoid inviting their female colleagues. In November 2022, streamer Amine organized a football match, the Eleven All Stars, between French and Spanish streamers. The meeting gathered more than a million viewers on the live broadcast on Twitch and broke an audience record on the platform. But no women were part of the event. The latter will admit in a live not wanting "them to be harassed", by participating in this match. To raise awareness, he will launch with his friend and streamer Billy a project called "Place de la paix", which aims to help Twitch channels report messages deemed inappropriate towards female streamers.
Last June, the show "Zen au Zénith" was held. An event that takes its name from the show "Zen", co-hosted by streamers Maxime Biaggi and Grim, broadcast on Twitch. For the last of the season, the two partners organized a live broadcast, from the Zenith in Paris and gathered in the room more than 5000 people. Only, of the myriad of guests, only one woman was invited: the youtuber Lena Situations.
Women active on Twitch are highlighted only in the worst situations they can suffer. To the detriment of our projects and the work we provide upstream.
Streamer Nat'ali, founder of the association Furax, which raises funds against violence against women.
An absence that has consequences. "Our presence remains so rare in these events that it seems exceptional. In fact, when we are finally present, we are questioned only about that, retorts Nat'ali. For example, atthis weekend's GP Explorer, journalists asked streamers Horty and Baghera what it was like to be in a 100% female stable; it's a shame to reduce their participation in that."
Streamers confined to an education role on cyberbullying
Without having male colleagues sufficiently informed on the issue of cyberbullying, female streamers are forced to constantly communicate on the subject. And this, as soon as this situation arises for herself or one of their colleagues. Thus, in October 2022, the streamer Maghla wrote a whole thread on X, to tell the frequent harassment she suffers and the consequences for her mental health. "We are the only ones to express ourselves on this and, suddenly, when a situation like the one Manon is currently undergoing, the media only question us," says Nat'ali.
Among the participants in the GP Explorer 2, it was the pilot and youtuber Ana who defended Manon Lanza the most. Twitter Nat'ali
In short, women active on Twitch are highlighted only in the worst situations they can face. "To the detriment of our projects and the work we provide upstream," says the streamer. "At times, we lose hope, we tell ourselves that even if one day a streamer ends her life after being cyberbullied, no one will react," says the videographer. "After all, Manon was already in the hospital when some of the netizens began to harass her and want her dead," she concludes, bitterly.