Sofia (Euractiv) / (EuroEFE).- Bulgarians pro-European Union (EU) will protest this Thursday at the headquarters of TELUS International Bulgaria, an external contractor that provides moderation services to Facebook in the Balkan country, which, they say, promotes positions favorable to the Kremlin, but silences content contrary to Russian President Vladimir Putin, which instead favors the image of Ukraine in the war.
The protest against Facebook in Bulgaria is organized by the civil association BOEC, one of the promoters of the anti-government demonstrations that took place in the summer of 2020 against the GERB government and its leader and former Prime Minister Boiko Borissov.
“In the last five years, my (Facebook) account has been blocked 50 times. In total, I have spent more than three years blocked by my activities with the BOEC and our battles against the mafia and the ‘fifth column’ of the Kremlin (in Bulgaria)”, according to the president of the BOEC, Georgi Georgiev.
Meanwhile, the pro-European Democratic Bulgaria party demanded the appearance of the company in Parliament. The reasons are the same: the frequent complaints from various users about the blocking of their accounts.
According to Democratic Bulgaria MP IvaIlo Mirchev, it must be clear how Facebook – the most influential media outlet in Bulgaria – applies its content management policies.
Pro-EU Bulgarians to stage protest against Facebook moderator – @EURACTIV https://t.co/JQbErc7w5q The EURACTIV tour of the capitals with a strong lead by Krassen Nikolov reporting from Sofia
— Georgi Gotev & EURACTIV.bg (@GeorgiGotev) January 12, 2023
THEY DEMAND MORE TRANSPARENCY AT META
“It is good that Parliament and the public know the principles and rules of its work, as this channel has a great influence in all spheres of public life,” he added.
Christo Komarnitski, a cartoonist with more than 52,000 followers on Facebook, who works for EURACTIV partner Sega, has been banned for 30 days for sharing a post of a Bulgarian fighting alongside the Ukrainian ranks. The post has not been deleted, but sharing is prohibited.
Ivo Balev, another Sega satirist who also works for Prass Press, was banned from Facebook for six days for a comment censoring vulgar words, using an ellipsis.
THEY DENY KREMLIN INFLUENCES
Publicist Radoslav Bimbalov has also been blocked from Facebook-Bulgaria, and poet Manol Glishev has been threatened with deletion of his profile.
Other journalists were also blocked, including Atanas Chobanov of the investigative site Bird.bg. However, the ban on his profile was short-lived, because after filing an appeal, Facebook admitted that its rules had not been violated.
Last December, as discontent against TELUS began to mount, Kristina Ivanova, Vice President of Operations at TELUS International Bulgaria, denied that her company had jurisdiction over the enforcement of Meta’s rules.
“We are not linked to the Russian government or any other government in the world. We are a fully independent publicly traded company,” he added.
Edited by F.Heller
