A French woman who began a campaign against sexual harassment has been order to pay a fine of €20,000 in a defamation case taken by the man she accused.

Sandra Muller was ordered to pay the damages to ex-TV boss Éric Brion, whom she accused of flirted with her inappropriately, by a Paris court.

In 2017, Muller had created the hashtag "#balancetonporc" ("rat on your pig")

She said she would appeal the ruling in which she was ordered to delete a tweet she posted in 2017 which named her alleged harasser.

She was also told to post statements on her account that were issued by the court.

Clumsy

Brion's legal team had agreed he had apologised for clumsy flirting but said he had "never admitted to harassing anyone".

His lawyer Marie Burguburu told the court hearing last May that he had a right to flirt with a woman he liked.

US-based Muller found the incident “humiliating” and began her campaign to get other women to share their experiences.

Brion called the "machine" Muller launched with her tweets "unstoppable", and said that he has had serious professional and personal repercussions as a result.

In October 2017, Muller tweeted: "#balancetonporc! You too can recount by giving the name and details of a sexual harassment you have known in your job."

Brion said he had not ever worked with Muller, though she had implied this, and that he had apologised for his words, and dropped the matter.

In December that year, he wrote a response in the French newspaper Le Monde as the campaign using his name spread.

He said he made the "inappropriate remarks" at a cocktail party late in the evening, "but only once".

He asked for "truth and nuance" and said her accusations were a "conflation of heavy-handed flirting and sexual harassment in the workplace".

He had found it difficult to find work as a result of Muller’s accusations, he wrote.