EXCLUSIVE
Senator Linda Reynolds has received an outpouring of support from an army of what appear to be social media bots posing as feminists.
Some 37 apparently fake profiles flooded X with messages of sympathy and encouragement for the liberal politician on Friday amid her defamation battle against her former employee Brittany Higgins.
The posts all had similar wording and claimed Ms Reynolds was unfairly targeted and bullied during Question Time in February 2021, just after Ms Higgins went public with her rape allegations.
All of the accounts were created in the past few weeks, are located in the US, France, the UK, Ghana, Bangladesh and Russia (but none in Australia), have fewer than four followers each, and the posts were uploaded within the same two-hour period.
A user named Zona, who lives in Russia, said: “As a female politician, I have seen firsthand the devastating impact of vicious attacks on female leaders. Senator Linda Reynolds’ story is a stark reminder that our words have power.”
Donnette, from Ohio, said: “I still remember watching Senator Linda Reynolds being brutally attacked on the statehouse floor. It was heartbreaking to see her subjected to such vicious attacks.”
Margareta from Florida said: “I still remember the tears I shed when I saw Senator Linda Reynolds being brutally attacked in parliament. As a woman, I know how intimidating it can be to speak out in a male-dominated space.”
While some verified Australian users suggested Ms Reynolds may have commissioned the posts herself, a spokesperson for the senator told Daily Mail Australia on Monday that the idea was “absurd”.
Linda Reynolds is pictured in Parliament on Monday. She is in the middle of a defamation case against her former employee, Brittany Higgins.
Brittany Higgins is pictured with her husband David Sharaz. Linda Reynolds has sued them for defamation
“Senator Reynolds knew nothing about these bots,” they said.
‘The idea that Senator Reynolds would get involved in something like this is absurd.
“She is not behind these bots and she doesn’t know who is.”
The posts appeared to match evidence Ms Reynolds gave on the witness stand at Washington’s Supreme Court in early August during her defamation case against Ms Higgins.
Ms Reynolds told the court she suffered a complete breakdown following her questioning on Question Time in February 2021, after Ms Higgins appeared on Network Ten’s The Project and alleged she was raped in the senator’s office in Parliament in 2019.
Ms Higgins also accused Reynolds of failing to support her, forcing her to choose between pursuing her rape claim and political career, or trying to cover up the assault.
The senator flatly denies these accusations and She told the court that at the end of that week she was hospitalized for heart problems.
He is now suing Ms Higgins. and her husband, David Sharaz, for perpetuating the accusations against her on social media.
Pictured: 31 of the 37 profiles that tweeted their support for Linda Reynolds on Friday
Pictured: Some of the tweets that were posted in support of Ms Reynolds on Friday
In early August, the senator’s partner, Robert Reid, cried as he told the court that she nearly died in the hospital.
Her parents, Janice and Laith Reynolds, provided written statements to the court, saying their daughter went from a respected minister to a pariah.
“She was accused of being some kind of monster who had abandoned ‘a poor young woman who had been raped,'” Reynolds said.
“She resigned from her position as Minister of Defence, a position for which one could reasonably say she was born. This was devastating in itself.”
Ms Reynolds’ friend Denita Wawn later told the court she urged the senator to leave politics after Ms Higgins’ allegations became public.
She said it was devastating to “see her friend of more than 20 years so physically and mentally ill after her breakdown in 2021.”
Linda Reynolds is pictured outside the Supreme Court in Washington in August.
“She was a mess,” Ms. Wawn said.
Physically she was shaking, she was pale, she seemed weak. Mentally she was in a state of great distress.
Ms. Wawn was concerned that Ms. Reynolds’ heart condition could lead to death.
“I spent a lot of time at her house with her, taking care of her,” he said.
‘There were several of us who took turns being with her.’
Ms Higgins was due to give evidence next week but on Monday her barrister Rachael Young SC said she was medically unfit.
She is pregnant and lives in France.
In April, a Federal Court judge ruled on a civil basis that former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann raped Higgins in Parliament House in 2019. He is appealing the decision.