Bartomeu denies paying for discrediting social media posts

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The Barcelona president has spoken

Barcelona president Joseph Maria Bartomeu came out with confidence and gusto that the club had no part in paying for social media posts that smeared Barcelona’s extended family.

Bartomeu initially denied the claims from the report that SER Catalunya published claiming that Barcelona hired a company to post negative things about players and former members of the club.

“Yes, it is true that in 2017 we contracted a service for the monitoring of social media with the aim of analysing both positive and negative messages about the club.”

“It’s something which the majority of clubs and corporations do. We did not contract a service to discredit anyone.

”Given the confirmation that the social media accounts were linked to that company which we were working with, we have given instructions — me, personally — to rescind the contract with that company.

”Have no doubt about it: Barca did not contract a service to smear players, ex-players, politicians, directors, presidential candidates or ex-presidents. It is completely false. We will defend ourselves by whatever means necessary and will go after anyone that falsely accuses us.”

Bartomeu | Source

SER claims that the proof they provided makes it clear that I3 Ventures were behind the accounts that discredited club members, which include Lionel Messi. This story won’t be going away anytime soon. It’ll be interesting to see if more proof is provided and how Barcelona choose to react publicly.

Source: barcablaugranes.com