“’tScheldt must continue, but must armor itself like an M1 Abrams tank.” The website announces that it will not throw in the towel after all. Last week, doubts arose about the future of ‘tScheldt, after the site was convicted by a court for causing reputational damage to former Vooruit chairman Conner Rousseau.
‘tScheldt defended himself by stating that it was satire, but the judge did not follow that reasoning. On Friday, the website on She referred to the “heavy financial consequences” of the court ruling.
Today ‘tScheldt states that the site will continue. It is not entirely clear what measures she takes, because the news report is a mixture of facts and humor. For example, it says that Gert Van Mol, the man behind ‘tScheldt, “is moving to Budapest where he has three chip shops and a coffee shop”. The site also states that she is “being sold to X” by Elon Musk.
The intention to strengthen ‘tScheldt financially seems more credible. “Money must be added to further fund the legal team, so that it can always appeal without discrimination. Which is not always done because of the costs,” he said.
Dozens of lawsuits
The site also set up a crowdfunding campaign, “Red ‘tScheldt”. “Help the ‘tScheldt to strengthen itself, so that ‘tScheldt can move on the playing field like an M1 Abrams tank,” it says.
“That one euro in compensation (symbolic damages to Conner Rouseau, ed.) was no problem,” the site says. “However, the three lawsuits cost us almost 5,000 euros. Do that approximately times ten, because there have been about ten cases like this in recent years.” At the time of writing, the promotion had been online for an hour. By then, 810 euros had been raised, out of a goal of 10,000 euros.
‘tScheldt’s conviction was the second in a short time. In February, Van Mol was also sentenced to six months in prison and a fine of 4,000 euros for incitement to hatred or violence against Zelfa Madhloum, the former spokeswoman for Open VLD.
