Swimming Australia has asked social media conglomerate Meta to remove yet more fake anti-LGBTQ+ quotes attributed to one of its athletes.
Olympic gold medal winner Kyle Chalmers is the second Aussie swimmer to have fake quotes attacking the queer community attached to his name, with the new posts coming two weeks after teammate Mollie O’Callaghan had similar quotes attributed to her.
The faux post, which is still available to view on Facebook, includes a composite image of Chalmers alongside the breaking news-style caption: “Kyle Chalmers is the first athlete to announce that he will WITHDRAW from the Australian team if tickets are sold to LGBT athletes. He declared, “WE DON’T PLAY TO CELEBRATE THEIR STUPID PRIDE,” and compared them to Lia Thomas, calling her a fraud: “IF YOU WANT EQUALITY, WHY BE PROUD?” His shocking statements have stunned fans around the world, forcing World Aquatics to speak out immediately!”
The fabricated quote attributed to O’Callaghan also included an attack on trans American swimmer Lia Thomas, who in 2022 made history as the first trans woman to win a National Collegiate Athletic Association swimming championship.
Thomas has since become a key figure in the right’s war against trans athletes and trans inclusion in sport and has been banned by World Aquatics and had her records modified by her old university. The titles won by Thomas were removed from UPenn’s website listing “All-Time School Records by Event”.
It now adds at the bottom of the list: “Competing under eligibility rules in effect at the time, Lia Thomas set program records in the 100, 200 and 500 freestyle during the 2021-22 season.”
In response, Swimming Australia has issued a statement clarifying Chalmers never made the anti-LGBTQ+ comments and urged Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, to remove the content from its platforms.
“There are currently fabricated quotes attributed to Dolphin Kyle Chalmers appearing on social media,” a Swimming Australia statement said.
“Kyle Chalmers has never been interviewed by Swim Hub or Swim Aquatics and additionally has never provided commentary on LGBT or transgender athletes.
“Meta was first advised of the fake news involving Australian swimmers two weeks ago.
“Chalmers and Swimming Australia have again requested the posts to be taken down.”
In a previous statement issued by Swimming Australia in regards to O’Callaghan, the governing body said at “no stage has O’Callaghan been interviewed and provided commentary on transgender athletes”, with Meta “advised of the fake news” and a request made for the content to be removed.
Back in January, Mark Zuckerberg – chief executive of Meta – announced a raft of changes to the company’s hate speech policies as well as the removal of its independent fact checkers and moderation teams in order to prioritise “free speech”.
Zuckerberg claimed they had become “too politically biased” and said the human oversight would be replaced by community notes, similar to the ones on social media competitor X – which is owned by free speech stalwart Elon Musk.
“We’re going back to our roots, and (will) focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free expression on our platforms,” Zuckerberg said.
“After Trump first got elected in 2016, the legacy media wrote non-stop about how misinformation was a threat to democracy. We tried in good faith to address those concerns without becoming the arbiters of truth but the fact checkers have been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they created.”
The changes were also criticised for allowing users to now refer to LGBTQ+ people as “mentally ill”.
In 2024, a GLAAD report found Meta was failing to moderate “extreme anti-trans hate” and posts that included transphobic slurs, “groomer” claims and the promotion of conversion therapy were left on platforms.
The post Swimming Australia asks Meta to delete yet more fake anti-LGBTQ+ quotes attributed to an Olympian appeared first on PinkNews | Latest lesbian, gay, bi and trans news | LGBTQ+ news.
