Twitter has blocked an account operated by a supporter of the popular Spanish matador José Antonio “Morante de la Puebla” because of two videos with scenes from a bullfight last Saturday.

In the eyes of the group, no “exaggeratedly clear” images may be shared.

It is harmful for users to be exposed to bloody scenes, especially if the content is published "for sadistic pleasure".

With this, Twitter follows the practice of Youtube and Vimeo, which block tauromachy content more frequently.

Paul Ingendaay

Europe correspondent for the feature pages in Berlin.

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The founding of the group has sparked outrage in the Spanish bullfighting world. Because supporters of the corrida do not want to hear about sadism. Morante de la Puebla wrote on Twitter: “Freedom does not exist in this country. It's enough. ”The opinion side of the daily newspaper El Mundo argues that not even the opponents of the bullfight have cause for joy, because this is by no means about animal welfare, but about“ whether we allow gigantic companies without any control over the exercise of Decide on fundamental rights such as freedom of expression ”. Twitter and others are not normal companies, according to the newspaper, but rather "players in the system" who only follow their own rules and, with their control of global social communication, could rise above the legislation of democratic states.

The national treasure and its artists

In fact, the bullfight has become the focal point of numerous conflicts in Spain that have little to do with what it once stood for. In the past you could come to terms with the fact that the followers of the Tauromachy spoke of a “ritual” with a complex set of rules, while the opponents spoke of cruelty to animals. So some went to the arena, others didn't. Then the conservative Rajoy government declared bullfighting a national treasure in 2013. The socialist culture minister José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes violated this statute in May 2020 when he did not mention the "Fiesta nacional" at the announcement of the Corona emergency aid for the cultural sector, although matadors are allowed to call themselves "artists" and the industry many thousands Includes jobs. Uribe corrected himself last March,when he mentioned bullfighting three times in connection with new cultural subsidies and considered it compatible with animal welfare.

However, that doesn't change the fact that the shares of the once immensely popular performance are doing badly. The bullfight is now not only regarded as outdated, but also as "right-wing" since the Vox party in particular rose to become its vocal defender. In this respect, there is a certain consequence in the attack by Twitter: If earlier account blockades were directed against the fake news of Donald Trump, the trivialization of the corona of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro or the aggressive rhetoric of AfD MP Beatrix von Storch, it now has an element of the older one , caught barely negotiable Spain. Major Spanish artists from Goya to García Lorca and Picasso may have found a source of inspiration in bullfighting - Twitter opts for censorship.