When Olympia Coral received the invitation to attend that feminist diplomatic meeting, she could not have imagined that that night she would end up sitting at a table “in front of the President of France, just one meter away.” Nor was she “drinking a toast and looking into our eyes,” says the promoter of the Mexican law against digital violence that bears her name.
21 figures from the press, academics, artists and activists were invited to attend this event organized by the French Embassy as part of the official visit by Emmanuel Macron. She described a private dinner as “very intimate”, on the same day that the bilateral agreement between Mexico and France to promote feminist diplomacy as a foreign policy was formalized, which took place at the College of San Ildefonso in the historic center, the legendary cradle of intellectuals. “But traditionally they were all men,” Coral says. “This time we were almost all women.”
Other members of the table, overwhelmingly female, include representative and former president of Congress Olga Cordero, journalist Marion Reimers and the influential figure La Chavez. In addition to the president, “who jokingly said that he was in the minority at that meeting, there were only two other men,” recalls the activist, who was invited to the event for receiving the 2025 Franco-German Gilberto Bosque Human Rights Prize in recognition of her struggle against digital violence. And also to participate in the business summit held in Paris at the beginning of the year, where its application called “Olympia Law for Artificial Intelligence” was recognized as one of the 50 most innovative applications in the world in the field of artificial intelligence. “It is the first of its kind in the world created by victims of digital violence to help other victims,” she says proudly.
At that unique dinner, held in a gleaming courtyard surrounded by the art of the main exponents of Mexican muralism, where French wine was drunk — first white, then red — and a menu prepared by the Mujeres de la Tierra group, Mujeres de la Periferia, the French president would devote nearly two hours to listening to guests’ concerns about the challenges women face in Mexico, but also to express his own.
Macron focused his speech on the decline of democracies, “which has given rise to today’s digital spaces and social networks,” describing them, according to Corral, as “places without freedom or reason that lead to a biased discussion of ideas.” The activist says her argument “was that the discussion of ideas has been delegated to social media networks, which constitute a data monopoly where money is made through personalized advertising.” According to the activist, the French president also stated that “the formation of public opinion is being lost by allowing digital companies to shape it through an infrastructure that is no longer free, honest or ethical.”
Among other issues related to women’s rights and freedoms, “Macron spoke about his rejection of pornographic culture and the objectification and perfection of female bodies. And from here the polarization algorithm started to speak, about the bias that it represents,” says Coral, who admits that she felt so comfortable during the conversation that at one point she took off her shoes “so she could pay more attention.” As he recalls, the French president will issue “a direct statement against the United States and against Elon Musk, demanding the immediate removal of unauthorized information and the transparency of the algorithm. It is not freedom of expression to let Elon Musk decide what content we should see.” In keeping with those words, Coral used them again to explain that the algorithm the president was talking about was, in fact, the “patriarchal algorithm” that she and her colleagues were fighting against, “a computer system of inequality that introduces biases between women and girls. These patriarchal biases monopolize the data on the objectification of women,” she recalls telling him.
The activist also talked to her about the achievements of her fight, “that we organized ourselves as victims and passed 39 laws around the world, and that Olympia is not just a law, but also a political movement to be safe on the Internet,” she says proudly. She provided him with some data on digital sexual exploitation markets. “Porn pages and other digital spaces where intimate sexual content is posted, distributed, moderated and curated without people’s consent,” he says. He asserts that in Latin America, “there are two million visible sexual exploitation markets, in addition to those misnamed ‘Getpages’, which can range from private WhatsApp and Telegram groups to open ones. He asserts that the social network in which this type of sexual exploitation markets are most prevalent is precisely X, the network of Elon Musk.”
For the occasion, Coral wore a purple satin suit with earrings of the same color “to give a clear feminist message”, and she knew how to take advantage of every opportunity of that “very powerful” meeting – that’s how she remembers it – to highlight and reinforce her struggle. To denounce before the President of France the inaction of digital companies when it comes to stopping violence against women. I convey to the President of France that 70% of the cases reported by Olympia Law that could not reach justice are due to corporate inaction. “That is why, even if we had flawless law, if digital companies were not required to do this, if we did not make extraterritorial and geopolitical efforts, women would never get justice!” She says.
Then she reveals that he replied “that there is a need for international cooperation between social networks and digital platforms. Macron even said that we have to ask the algorithm. Exactly what we are doing from the Olympia movement, ask the algorithm, change the code!”, she says, still excited.
Being so close to the greatest authority in France, which has promoted the implementation of one of the most feminist laws in Mexico in recent decades, I would like to tell her part of my experience. He admitted that when he was a victim of this digital violence, “France was one of the countries where his video appeared the most. How do I think I will be able to stand up to the President of France and tell him that my videos spread in his country and nothing was done?” he asks.
That night, after listening to her, Macron promised that “France will do everything in its power to generate international geopolitical demands. Then I expressed my desire for this alliance with Mexico to be truly made for a feminist foreign policy. I also thanked him for being on the right side of history,” says activist Olimpia Corral: Josefina’s daughter, Teresa’s granddaughter, Olympia’s great-granddaughter, and Leonela’s great-granddaughter. Panvilla, sister of Abigail; A survivor of digital violence. How he introduced himself to the president immediately after meeting him.
When the diplomatic meeting was about to end, with all boldness and determination, Coral took advantage of what would be her last chance and took out two purple scarves that she made Macron pose with to take a picture of herself and later uploaded it to her networks. Then he took the president’s hand and gave him a phrase he wrote in his own handwriting, which he translated on his cell phone during dinner. “We agree that the paternal algorithm must be abolished,” said the paper, which Macron read with a confident smile, then slowly folded and put in his pocket.
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