In a disturbing display of selective misogyny targeting Muslim women, photos of hundreds of them were uploaded by an unidentified group on an app using GitHub by the name of ‘Sulli Deals’ on Sunday, 4 July. Sulla or Sulli is a derogatory term used to refer to Muslims.
The app came to light when people started sharing their ‘deal of the day on Twitter, but it has since been removed by GitHub.
GitHub is essentially a hosting platform, with a repository of open-source codes. The app ‘Sulli Deals’ was created and used on GitHub.
“Once opened, the app would ask the user to click on ‘Find your Sulli deal of the day. It would then randomly display a photo of a Muslim woman as your ‘Sulli deal of the day the photo most likely sourced from their social media account. I was shocked to see my face being right there, displayed as the deal of the day,” Hana Mohsin Khan, a pilot by profession, told The Quint.
Speaking to The Quint, a 27-year-old woman from Delhi-NCR said she has quit social media platforms after she saw her photos being surfaced on the ‘Sulli Deals’ app.
“I was shocked when I saw a random handle sharing my photo and tagging me on Twitter as the ‘deal of the day.’ You might think why is she so scared? But I am tired and intimidated. Clearly, if I am in danger and the boundaries between my real and reel life blur, no one is going to aid me but myself,” she said.
Khan, a popular voice on social media, said she was not intimidated but angry.