Twitter suspends VOX account for ‘incitement to hatred’

Twitter account of ultra-right party VOX with Spanish nationalist slogan, 'España Siempre'. Image: Twitter via El Mundo
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Spain’s ultra-right VOX party has had its official account on Twitter suspended by the social-media platform after claiming falsely in a Tweet last week that the PSOE-Unidas Podemos coalition government led by President Pedro Sánchez was using taxpayers’ money specifically to promote man-boy sex as part of diversity education in public schools.

In suspending the VOX account last Tuesday, Twitter said that far-right party’s ability to Tweet, re-Tweet or otherwise interact with other Twitter users had been temporarily blocked for “breach of the rules that prohibit incitement towards hatred” on the social media platform.

The incident occurred on Tuesday the 21st during an exchange on Twitter between VOX and the spokeswoman for the Socialist party in Congress, Adriana Lastra, over the right-wing party’s promotion of the so-called “parental PIN” plan, that would give parents a veto over their children attending diversity education classes in public schools.

► News Sources: Público, El Mundo and La Vanguardia …

In the Twitter exchange, Lastra called out VOX for its homophobic and anti-feminist rhetoric and social-media messaging, Tweeting: “You can’t stand the LGBTI community, you can’t stand marriage between two people of the same sex, you can’t stand equality between men and women, you can’t stand that your retrograde ideas aren’t shared by the entire society …”

VOX then responded via its official Twitter account: “What we can’t stand is that you come into our home and you tell us how we have to live and how we have to educate our children. And even worse, using public funding to promote pederasty.”

Twitter interpreted the VOX Tweet as an attack on the LGBT community and the Socialists, saying that “threatening, harassing or promoting violence against others is not permitted” on its platform.

The account was to be suspended for just 24 hours, pending VOX’s deletion of the offending Tweet. But, the right-wing party has so far refused to do so and as of Monday morning the official VOX Twitter account remains frozen after nearly a week of no activity on the account.

► Click to read more news about Spain’s ultra-right VOX party …

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