Julia MENGOLINI

Journalist and author Julia Mengolini was subjected to judicial and other forms of harassment in 2025. In July, President Javier Milei filed a defamation complaint against her, invoking harm to his honour and the legal standard of ‘actual malice’ in relation to comments she made in the 2023 election campaign. In parallel to the judicial action, Mengolini became the target of an intense digital harassment campaign that included the circulation of pornographic deepfake videos generated by artificial intelligence, threats of death and gender-based violence against her and her family, defamatory statements in the media, and coordinated attacks on social media. Mengolini told PEN International that there is a deliberate strategy by those responsible to ensure a constant campaign of harassment against her.

The complaint was initially dismissed, but was reopened on 18 December 2025, as the court considered that the 2023 remarks Mengolini had made about then presidential candidate Milei during the presidential election campaign were not fully in the public interest and thus could be subject to defamation laws. In mid-July 2025, Mengolini filed a criminal complaint against President Milei and a group of pro-government individuals for threats, public intimidation, incitement to commit crimes, criminal association, and the alleged misuse of public funds to finance digital harassment campaigns. In August, a judge charged President Milei and a group of officials with threatening the journalist. 

Julia Mengolini is a journalist recognised as a leading figure in the Argentinian feminist movement and as co-founder of the alternative digital outlet Futurock. She is the author of the book Las caras del monstruo (The Faces of the Monster) (Futurock Ediciones, 2024).