After "Mia moglie" the storm hits Phica.eu: reports from all over Italy Will the closure be enough? Urgent measures are needed
The scandal surrounding the Mia Moglie Facebook group has not yet faded, when a new case shakes public opinion: that of the forum Phica.eu, active for almost twenty years and for years a refuge for hundreds of thousands of users who shared, without consent, images of women often stolen from social media or everyday life, accompanied by sexist and offensive comments. The site, which boasted hundreds of thousands of members and generated millions of monthly visits, has announced its closure following a wave of complaints and the opening of investigations by the Postal Police. However, the phenomenon goes far beyond the fate of a single forum: it fits into a broader and more disturbing dynamic of digital violence, which affects not only ordinary girls, but also public figures and professionals. A spiral that reveals how the internet has become a breeding ground for new forms of gender-based violence, difficult to contain with current tools.
From "Mia Moglie" to Pandora’s digital box
It all began in mid-August, when writer and educator Carolina Capria, author of the social page L’ha scritto una femmina, publicly exposed the existence of a Facebook group called Mia Moglie. With over 30,000 members, the group collected photos of women, secretly taken or stolen from social media, shared by partners or acquaintances, often accompanied by explicit captions that reduced these women to sexual objects. Capria’s report went viral and sparked an avalanche: thousands of reports, the group’s closure by Meta following intervention from the Postal Police, and dozens of women who recognized their own faces in the images. Some were unaware wives or girlfriends, others ordinary girls, exposed to a real “virtual rape.” From there, investigations led to the discovery of other similar groups, both on Facebook and Telegram, ready to reopen despite closures. But above all, they unearthed a long-standing phenomenon: the presence of historic platforms such as Phica.eu, where the same dynamics had been taking place on a much larger scale.
Phica.eu: hundreds of thousands of members and millions of visits
The forum Phica.eu, founded in 2005, was not a closed group of a few thousand people, but a true online community. According to estimates, the site generated around 600,000 daily visits, with over 20 million monthly views. An enormous pool that, for years, enabled the spread of stolen, manipulated, or decontextualized photos, fueling vulgar and often violent discussions. What distinguished Phica was its internal organization: categories dedicated to ordinary women, influencers, actresses, journalists, and even sections aimed at institutional figures, where public images were used as pretexts for sexualization and misogynistic hate. Many women involved decided to speak out publicly, stressing that it was not only a personal violation but a form of violence that concerns everyone. Within hours, the case became a political and institutional issue, with calls to discuss the matter in Parliament and to introduce fast-track procedures to block sites hosting stolen material.
Victims’ testimonies
Not only public figures. Among the women who unwillingly ended up on Phica were artists, journalists, influencers, and ordinary girls whose only “fault” was having a public social profile. Some reported finding entire pages of personal photos stolen from the internet: snapshots of everyday life turned into material for vulgar comments, threats, and sexual innuendos. In several cases, messages even suggested the possibility of hacking webcams or invading the victims’ privacy, heightening their sense of danger and vulnerability. A feeling shared by hundreds of other women, who suddenly discovered they had been turned into objects of discussion by strangers. The Postal Police received thousands of reports, but the problem remains the difficulty of tracking down the administrators of these platforms, often based abroad, and of removing content once it is shared.
The site’s closure and shadows on the future
Under pressure from complaints and public opinion, the Phica staff announced the closure. In a statement posted on the homepage, the administrators wrote that they had decided “with great regret” to delete everything, admitting they had failed to stop “the toxic behaviors that led Phica to become, in the eyes of many, a place to move away from rather than feel proud to belong to.” A belated stance, which leaves many questions open: was it really impossible to intervene earlier? How much have the site’s administrators earned over the years? And above all: will the closure be permanent or, as often happens, will the forum be reborn under another name and form? Institutions promise zero tolerance, stressing that the theft and sharing of images without consent is one of the new frontiers of male violence. No longer isolated incidents, but a structural phenomenon requiring a strong and unified response.
Towards a digital #MeToo
The Mia Moglie case and the downfall of Phica have triggered what many describe as a genuine digital #MeToo. Hundreds of women are finding the courage to speak out, tell their stories, and come forward. But the phenomenon also reveals the legal and cultural vacuum that still surrounds online violence: from the slowness in removing content to the difficulty of prosecuting those who manage and fuel these platforms. Once again, the internet shows its darkest side: not only a place of expression and connection, but also fertile ground for new forms of misogyny. The closure of Phica represents a first step, but it is not enough. Because, as feminist associations point out, new channels, chats, and forums replicating the same mechanism emerge every day. The real challenge, therefore, will be to build a system capable of protecting victims before violence goes viral. And above all, to turn collective outrage into legislative and cultural change, ending the normalization of women’s bodies being exploited.
