• Elections.Twitter suspends the Vox account at the beginning of the campaign in Catalonia for linking immigration with crime

  • Politics.Vox complains against Twitter for insults and slander after suspending its account during the electoral period

The

Central Electoral Board

has agreed with Twitter in its decision to suspend the Vox account on the social network for eight days, five of them during the electoral campaign, because it understood that with one of its messages the political formation incited hatred .

This is a tweet in which Vox stated: "They account for approximately 0.2% and are responsible for 93% of complaints. Most of them come from the Maghreb. It is Catalonia that is leaving unanimous indolence and complicity with crime imported. Only Vox remains! #StopIslamization ".

The political party filed a complaint against Twitter for the temporary closure of its account alleging that the management of the social network violated the principles of political pluralism and equality as well as the right to free political participation of Ignacio Garriga, its head of the list for Barcelona.

Vox requested the restitution of his account and the warning and sanction of the person responsible for the decision.

The Electoral Board has ruled in favor of the social network in a long statement of reasons, which includes a private vote, considering that the case, given the role that social networks have in electoral campaigns, "is not irrelevant" .

Furthermore, it adds that its statement, unusually extensive, is necessary, since it is a matter of elucidating about respect for the principles of political pluralism, transparency, equality and objectivity that should prevail in campaigns.

The JEC considers Twitter's decision to be "reasonable and non-discriminatory" because the Vox message violated its policy regarding hate speech, a clause that "responds to a legitimate purpose, not contrary to legislation and relative jurisprudence. to the limits of freedom of expression ".

To support this argument, it relies on article 10 of the

Constitution

, on the jurisprudence of

the European Court of Human Rights

contained in several judgments of the Constitutional Court, on article 510 of the

Penal Code

and on

Recommendation 15 of the European Commission

against Racism and Tolerance of the Council of Europe, according to which hate speech includes "the encouragement, promotion or instigation in any of its forms, discrediting, spreading negative stereotypes or stigmatizing individuals or groups."

For the Board, the expressions used in the Vox message supposed "to instill negative stereotypes of fear in relation to people who profess the Islamic religion or come from the Maghreb".

In addition, it maintains that Twitter's decision was not disproportionate because, in addition to being a "repeated breach" of Vox, its candidates could continue to use their respective accounts on the social network without any limitation.

Private vote

Despite all this, the JEC considers it necessary for this matter to be regulated by the legislator and says it is aware of "the dangers and risks that some decisions of those responsible for social networks may pose during the electoral campaign" because "they can seriously limit the campaign of any candidate "who," given the urgency of electoral periods, will have little time to obtain effective judicial protection. "

The decision of the Board, in this case giving the reason to Twitter and rejecting the claim of Vox has, however, a particular vote issued by the lawyer

José Miguel Serrano

who considers that this type of matter should be resolved through a judicial procedure that "guarantees contradiction and defense "and regrets that" a set of restrictions that are increasingly extensive are accumulating on our laws. "

Serrano believes that Twitter fell completely into prior censorship and that the JEC's decision "consolidates the power of unilateral censorship of large technology and social media companies."

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Vox

  • Twitter

  • Catalonia

  • Ignacio Garriga

  • Barcelona

  • European Court of Human Rights

  • constitutional Court

  • European Comission

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