Elena Gocmen Rueda
An account promoting a Spanish matador has been banned from Twitter after posting videos of his latest bullfight.
Footage of Jose Antonio Morante de la Puebla taking part in a corrida in Algeciras on Saturday breached the network’s rules for ‘promoting sadistic pleasure’.
The social media giant suspended the account of @moranteinfo, which is runby a fan of the famous bullfighter, because the “explicit content that breached the site’s basic rules”.
“You cannot share on multimedia scenes which are gratuitous (injuries, violence, torture),” it said, explaining the ban.
“The showing of gratuitous bloody scenes can be prejudicial, especially if the content is published with the intention of promoting cruelty or sadistic pleasure.”
The ban provoked outrage from the account holder who posted: ‘freedom in this country does not exist, enough is enough’ alongside the response he had from Twitter.
And although Morante de La Puebla himself remained silent on the matter, other bullfighters lent their support.
“All my support to my colleague Morante de la Puebla and my repulsion towards the censorship of Twitter towards bullfighting as an expression of culture and art which is legally recognised,” tweeted fellow matador Manuel Díaz El Cordobes.
The Toro de Libia Foundation also waded into the row and accused Twitter of censorship.
Its spokesman, Chapu Apaolaza, said that freedom of access to culture is being violated and that an activity that is legal and protected by Spanish law is being censored.
