A “disgraceful” petition about Rachael “Raygun” Gunn and Olympic chef de mission Anna Meares has been taken down after the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) condemned it as defamatory and bullying.
Change.org says the petition was “flagged for misinformation”, reviewed, and has now been removed from the platform.
The anonymous Change.org petition repeated false information that has spread online about the Olympics qualifying process after Raygun’s performance.
Raygun’s breaking attracted global attention after she failed to win any of her battles in Paris. While many were derogatory about her performance, she also earned admirers and inspired countless memes.
The petition, which garnered more than 45,000 signatures, repeated false claims about AOC processes that have been spreading online.
AOC chair, Matt Carroll, said it amounted to bullying and harassment and contained falsehoods “designed to engender hatred”. AOC wrote to Change.org on Thursday demanding it be withdrawn.
“It is disgraceful that these falsehoods concocted by an anonymous person can be published in this way. It amounts to bullying and harassment and is defamatory,” Carroll said.
“It’s important that the community understands the facts and that people do not form opinions based on malicious untruths and misinformation.”
In a statement, Change.org said it “maintains strict guidelines against content that constitutes harassment, bullying, or spreading false information”.
“We take such matters seriously and remove any content that violates these standards to protect our users and uphold the integrity of our community.”
Raygun, a 36-year-old academic, said in an Instagram post on Thursday that the backlash against her had been “devastating” and asked for privacy.
“I really appreciate the positivity and I’m glad I was able to bring some joy into you lives,” she wrote. “That’s what I hoped.
“I didn’t realise that would also open the door to so much hate which has, frankly, been pretty devastating.”
The Voller case in 2021 made it clear that companies were responsible for whatever they “published” – in that case, comments on Facebook pages.
While there have been various reforms since then, companies must be aware of the material they are hosting, University of Sydney law professor David Rolph said.
“And obviously you have to move swiftly to deal with defamatory comments.
“The most obvious defence that the host of an online petition would have would be innocent dissemination, which turns on whether or not they know or ought to know there are defamatory comments there.”
Change.org has more than 500m petitions online.
According to its community guidelines, it will remove any hateful or discriminatory content, and anything that violates applicable laws. Content “intended to intimidate, degrade, or harm others emotionally or psychologically will be removed”, the guidelines state, as will false, misleading, or defamatory information.
