Twitter has blocked the account of number two on the PSPV list to the Valencia City Council, Borja Sanjuan, for refusing to delete a tweet that included a photo of his sister’s wedding with his wife. The action of the platform has taken place after a campaign by a far-right group known as the “Unga Unga Army”, specialized in carrying out massive complaints against progressive profiles of the social network to cause their suspension. The group has claimed responsibility for the action on its Telegram channel.
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“She is my sister and I have been able to marry her off. And today I already have two sisters. They are already a woman and a woman ”, Sanjuan wrote in the publication, which he accompanied with an image that showed the three of them during the event. The tweet was published on May 19 but it was not until this Thursday when the social network tried to get it deleted for “violating the rules that prohibit publishing private photos and videos.” Said norms They refer to “explicit images or videos that were taken, appear to have been taken, or shared without the consent of the individuals involved,” but not celebrations such as a wedding.
Sanjuan is also the current spokesman for the PSPV in the community and councilor for Finance in the City Council directed by Joan Ribó. After Sanjuan refused to delete the Twitter post, he proceeded to block his account and prevent other users from accessing his tweets while his review request is being resolved. This process could take weeks and is done automatically after Elon Musk fired all the moderation teams on the platform to save costs.
Unfortunately my partner @borsanro They have blocked his TW account for this photo marrying his sister to another woman.
They say it is “private content”, but he and his family are very proud that love is public.
A hug to all the proud families 🏳️🌈 pic.twitter.com/g1KCrg5sm1
— Sandra Gomez/ 💜 (@SanGomezLopez) May 25, 2023
The “Unga Unga Army” group is characterized by carrying out this type of action to bring down progressive Twitter profiles. They search for tweets likely to be the focus of complaints and send a large number of complaints against him in a very short space of time. The maneuver sets off alarm bells in Twitter’s security system and its algorithms block the account as a precaution. Sometimes those affected can recover it after the review. In others, when members of the far-right group find a tweet that may actually violate their rules, the suspension can become permanent, even if it is old and no one has reported it before.
Marcelino Madrigal, a specialist in following the actions of far-right and denialist networks on Twitter and Telegram, had warned just three days ago that the Unga Unga Army is concentrating its activity on the Podemos and PSOE candidates for the Valencia elections. The expert published an analysis of the group’s activity on the platform, as well as screenshots where they claim the blocking of the left-wing accounts that they have managed to take down or have had to delete posts as a result of their actions.
This would be the activity per month and day
How can you see the topic comes long pic.twitter.com/C1GXzE1B0e– mmadrigal (@SoyMmadrigal) May 22, 2023
“It is an attempt to make a homophobic accusation. I am very proud of having been able to marry my sister to my sister-in-law and I am not going to eliminate it, I don’t have to. But of course, until they resolve the claim, my account is blocked and it is a toll that I am going to have to pay until the end of the campaign”, Sanjuan stated in statements to elDiario.es. “In the end it also means losing that media window just because you do not refuse to accept that an organized group of the extreme right wants to remove your sister’s wedding from the networks because it is with another woman.”
Unga Unga Army has been active for several years and has varied its objectives over time. In addition to the progressive accounts in general, it has also had periods where its campaigns have persecuted feminist and LGTBi activists on Twitter with special intensity.
elDiario.es has asked Twitter about the action of the Unga Unga Army and the blocking of Borja Sanjuan’s account. His press email address has returned an automated response with the “💩” emoji, as he has been doing for several months, ever since Musk decided to fire the entire company communication department.
