The closure – for 8 days and in the middle of the Catalan electoral campaign – of the Vox account by Twitter was proportional, reasonable and non-discriminatory for the Central Electoral Board (JEC), before which Abascal’s party appealed.
Moreover, the Board assures that “it is not unreasonable” to consider that messages such as the one that motivated the suspension of the party’s account on the social network “infuse negative stereotypes of fear in relation to groups that profess the Muslim religion or come from the Maghreb ”.
Vox’s message linked immigration with crime: “They represent approximately 0.2% and are responsible for 93% of the complaints. Most are from the Maghreb. It is Catalonia that is leaving unanimous indolence and complicity with imported crime. Only VOX remains! # StopIslamination “.
The Board recalls that It is the second time that Vox violates the rules of Twitter, which is why its account was also suspended during 2020 to add that this restriction only affected the account of the political formation and not of its representatives.
Yes, the JEC believes that the approval of legal regulations is necessary because he claims to be aware “of the risks that some decisions of those responsible for social networks may pose during the electoral campaign.”
The resolution is not unanimous because a member of the Board, José Miguel Serrano, however, has drawn up a private vote in which he states that Twitter, which “made a disproportionate decision to suspend the account, did not allow Vox to argue about the suspension”, consolidating the power of unilateral censorship of large technology and social media companies.
The possibility of a further appeal on the decision of the JEC does not, from my point of view, solve the indicated deficiency.
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