Barcelona crisis: dozens of 'bots' defend Bartomeu online
According to El Pais, numerous false social media accounts have been set up and are publishing messages in support of the under-fire Barça president.
On Thursday, Spanish national newspaper El País reported that there were 'dozens of false accounts tweeting thousands of slogans in favour of the Barça president since early 2018'. This follows on the current negative situation that he finds himself in over recent revelations.
Bartomeu's 'bots'
The paper asserts that the posts are in 'praise of the management of President Josep Maria Bartomeu' and focus on those journalists or other candidates criticising him.
The 'bots' originally belonged to a database of Nicestream, a parent company of I3 Ventures, El País states. I3 Ventures are the company that made the news recently after stories emerged linking them to Facebook pages that were posting negative pieces to impact on the image of various Barça players. These pages were Respect and Sport, Sport Leaks, Alter Sports, Justice and Dialogue in sport, Jaume, a horror film, and Mes que un club.
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The accounts were reported to have been used for 'a campaign for Catalan Civil Society and against independence between 2014 and 2015'.