Trolls flooded an online form in Utah meant to report transgender people in bathrooms with photos of animal genitalia and memes.
The office of Utah Auditor John Dougall created the online complaint form to comply with a new anti-trans bathroom state law that went into effect on May 1.
The law changes the legal definitions of “male” and “female” to a person’s reproductive organs and restricts bathrooms transgender individuals can use on government property by that definition.
The state auditor’s office is required to receive and investigate alleged violations of the law. A person found to have violated the law can be charged with criminal trespassing and could serve jail time. A government entity, including schools, can be fined up to $10,000 per day for each violation.
On Wednesday, Dougall’s office released a form to report transgender people in bathrooms not consistent with their sex assigned at birth. The form requires a name, email address and allows people to upload pictures and provide evidence of possible violations.
Things did not go according to plan.
Trolls reportedly flooded the forms with fake reports, including one about a beaver in their bathroom at 3 a.m., memes, photos of bull testicles, characters from the Bee movie, and one about Rep. Matt Gaetz harassing underage girls.
By Friday, Dougall told the Salt Lake Tribune that his office received nearly 4,000 complaints and they all appear to be fake.
“We didn’t see anything that looks credible,” he added. “I would assume the Legislature probably didn’t think through what kind of public backlash might happen.”
