Sall Grover

Sall Grover (born 11 October 1984 ) is an Australian businesswoman. She was the founder of Giggle, a now defunct female-only social media app. Prior to this endeavour, Grover worked in the film industry in Australia and in the United States as a production assistant and as a screenwriter. In August 2024, the Federal Court of Australia found that Grover had contravened the Sex Discrimination Act by carrying out indirect discrimination on the basis of gender identity, and ordered "the app" and Grover to pay Tickle A$10,000 plus the legal costs of the plaintiff. In May 2026, the Federal Court on cross appeal, increased the damages award to A$20,000 and capped the costs of the plaintiff at A$50,000. The name, Giggle, is described as a collective noun for women. Grover has said she was driven to develop a digital platform for women by her desire to guard against the advances of predatory men, a view that was informed by her experience with misogyny and sexual violence.

The app was particularly criticised for excluding transgender women. To verify users' birth sex, it relied on technology developed by Kairos, a company that offers facial recognition software.

By 2021, the app reportedly had 20,000 users from 88 countries.

Grover decided to shut down the app in July 2022. She has alleged that transgender activists have sent numerous rape threats and death threats in relation to the app's membership policy.

Tickle v Giggle

Grover's efforts to create Giggle for Girls led to legal proceedings to determine the legality of the trans-exclusionary membership policies used on the platform. The plaintiff, Roxanne Tickle, also alleged that Grover had harassed her online after she complained about Giggle's policies. The case has become known as Tickle v Giggle. AHRC initially offered conciliation between the parties, but those efforts were unsuccessful. May 2022: matter filed in the Federal Circuit Court following the complaint. July 2022: case was, without explanation, dropped, as Tickle sought to discontinue all of the orders. December 2023: case reopened by Tickle. Tickle was granted $50,000 from Grata Fund, a not-for-profit legal fund associated with University of New South Wales, to cover costs associated with the case. April 2024: hearing began before Justice Robert Bromwich with Giggle and Grover represented by Bridie Nolan. The court was required to examine the application of the Australian government's 2013 amendments to the 1984 Sex Discrimination Act. The hearing concluded after several days of arguments. The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) participated in the legal case by sending representatives to the court, including Anna Cody, the Sex Discrimination Commissioner. The commission's role in the case was extended as a ‘friend of the court’ (amicus curiae) to clarify the provisions in Australia's Sex Discrimination Act. Alsalem's paper discussed the definition of "woman" in international human rights treaties, particularly the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Alsalem argues that while CEDAW does not explicitly define "woman", it refers to individuals assigned female at birth and that sex and sex-based discrimination in that context is understood as a biological category. In discussing his reasoning, Bromwich refuted Grover's arguments that sex was unchangeable, finding "These arguments failed because the view propounded by the respondents conflicted with a long history of cases decided by courts going back over 30 years. Those... cases established that on its ordinary meaning sex is changeable". Bromwich also refuted both the constitutional challenges raised by Grover. Grover contended that section 22 of the Sex Discrimination Act was outside of the scope of Commonwealth authority, and so discrimination based on gender identity was not actionable under the constitution. Bromwich found that "section 22 is supported by the Commonwealth’s external affairs power, as an enactment of Article 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966)", specifically as it states "the law shall prohibit any discrimination and guarantee to all persons equal and effective protection against discrimination on any ground such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status". Bromwich considered "other status" to encompass gender identity. The second constitutional challenge made by Grover was that there was "inconsistency between the Births, Deaths and Marriages Act 1994 (Qld) and the SDA". Bromwich found that there was no inconsistency, and that the "two statutes can and do operate harmoniously". May 2026: The judgement against Grover is upheld by a full court of the Federal Court, which found two instances of direct discrimination against Tickle on cross-appeal. Grover was ordered to pay A$20,000 in reassessed damages, plus limited legal costs.

Personal life and early career Grover grew up on the Gold Coast, Queensland. She studied journalism and philosophy at Bond University. Grover collaborated with Australian screenwriter Emma Jensen who had also moved to Los Angeles. After experiencing sexual harassment while working in the American film industry, Grover chose to return to Australia, having had none of her writing projects appear on screen. After sharing her experience, the Minister for Government Services, Bill Shorten, reversed the department's naming policy to its previous position, as he wished to defuse public conflict. Grover continues to live on the Gold Coast.