Date Published: 28/08/2020
ARCHIVED - National Police arrest negationist who denied Covid existence, inciting hatred and violence on social networks.
ARCHIVED ARTICLE The man was arrested in the Zaragoza town of Cuarte de Huerva.
One of the more surprising aspects of the Covid pandemic has been the culture of denial that has surrounded it, and the aggressive and confrontational attitude of some of those who either choose not to believe it’s actually happening, have adopted the attitude that it’s no worse than a mild cold and that it's all a plot the media who have blown it out of all proportion to get web traffic, that it’s a plot by the Chinese to take over the world, that it’s all a pack of lies, that it’s just manipulation of the public etc etc.
All of this is of course, highly disrespectful towards the hundreds of thousands who have died, the billions of us who have suffered loss in some way because of it and the sacrifices made by health professionals to save thousands of lives trying to stop its spread.
But although everyone is entitled to their own opinion, how and where it is expressed matters, and although some people think it’s OK to be abusive and aggressive towards those doing a job on social media, it’s not.
This investigation began after police detected different anonymous profiles on social networks in which messages of hatred and violence were being spread towards political and institutional positions and in which false information was also being given about the situation of the pandemic in Spain.
After carrying out the first investigations, the agents discovered that behind these profiles there was one person who, to avoid being detected, was connecting through foreign servers and using SIM cards from other countries that changed frequently.
As the operation progressed, the agents discovered that the detainee was posing as a public official and that he was making phone calls to spread false information related to the situation of the pandemic.
The detainee spread his erroneous slogans on an online platform saying that health professionals, journalists and the media were responsible for what he called "the Covid farce."
Among the messages that he spread against the moral integrity of institutional positions and different groups, were phrases such as "All this would be solved with a shot in the neck at Pedro Sánchez"; "You have to set fire to the medical school, period. Sons of bitches."; "If I didn't have parents, I would have killed a covidiot. They are ignorant and bad people who deserve to die."
In addition, he directly targeted his hatred against media professionals using names and surnames: "Does anyone know where this filthy rat lives? ... I want to go to his house ... and give him a good scare."
He even threatened to burn a newspaper in Aragon and spread slander about the Military Emergency Unit (UME) claiming that they entered the homes for the elderly with the aim of assassinating them.
• The operation, coordinated by the General Information Commission, lasted several weeks until the agents were able to locate and arrest the 38 year old man in the Zaragoza town of Cuarte de Huerva, the person responsible for these actions.
He will now face charges of usurpation of public functions, threats, incitement to hatred, violence and a crime against moral integrity through social networks, as well as slander against authorities and public officials.
Say NO to Cyber-bullying
The Covid crisis has been as abusive and caustic as the Brexit debate on social media, and those words are not used lightly.Such has been the level of personal abuse recently against our own personnel that we are now actively removing anyone from the groups we run who is A. personally abusive against group admin; B. unjustifiably aggressive or offensive against the product we run; C. is aggressive against other group members; or D. posts “information” which is misleading, contrary to public guidelines or incites other group members to ignore official guidelines. Say NO to Cyber bullying!
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