Javier Milei’s use of social media continues to occupy the spotlight. The constant denigration of those who are critical of official policy and the permanent attack on public figures who question him works with organized digital groups. There is more and more evidence, and even many legal complaints. A project that entered the lower house, promoted by the Left Front, seeks to put this issue up for discussion.
The project, authored by Christian Castillo, asks the Chief of Cabinet of Ministers, Guillermo Francos, to attend Congress to give explanations about the information indicating that this group operates in the Casa Rosada itself, with specific methods, encouraging expressions of violence against opponents of the government, attacks against freedom of expression and attacks that extend to journalists, political leaders and activists, from the women’s and diversity movement, culture and other areas, who express their disagreement with the national government’s policy.
The burrow
In an editorial last March, journalist Jorge Fontevecchia reported that there are organized digital task forces operating on the first floor of the Casa Rosada, in the former Salón de las Mujeres, now renamed Salón de los Próceres, with the aim of discouraging any criticism of the national government on social media.
The Troll Center from which a favorable story is fabricated to Milei’s government, according to Fontevecchia, is known as “the Burrow” and according to various journalistic investigations, its brains are the second cousin of the Minister of Economy and presidential advisor, Santiago Caputoalready Fernando Cerimedoa former digital advisor to Jair Bolsonaro, who “leads a conglomerate of companies that include media outlets, an advertising and political marketing agency, and an Academy that offers courses on the same subject,” according to Perfil. According to that investigation, Cerimedo – creator of La Derecha Diario, a libertarian media outlet that the government uses to harass critics and create fake news – also advised Peronist youth on digital communication for three years.
A bill that was introduced in the lower house on Monday, promoted by the Left Front, seeks to put this issue up for discussion. “The government does not hide the actions of these groups: it is the President himself who joins these messages, which are often unpleasant, misogynistic, degrading and sometimes also threatening,” says Christian Castillo, author of the initiative along with Nicolás del Caño, Alejandro Vilca (PTS/FITU), Mónica Schlotthauer (IS/FITU) and Vanina Biasi (PO/FITU).
Digital task forces to stalk and harass
During these 7 months of management of La Libertad Avanza, various journalists, such as Joaquín Morales Solá, María O’donnell, Romina Manguel, Jorge Fernández Díaz, Ernesto Tenembaum, Silvia Mercado, Jorge Fontanavecchia, Nancy Pazos and María Laura Santillán, in addition to Teresa Frías, Sol Pérez and Lali Espósito, and not to mention leaders of the fight against impunity, among many other public figures, denounced the actions of these gangs of digital tasks destined to create, through mockery from social networks, a favorable story to the Milei government.
According to a study by Perfil, until the beginning of July, Javier Milei’s government had accumulated an average of two new journalists attacked per week.
Added to this are recent research, such as that of the Crisis Magazine which detail that these government-linked groups are organized to carry out harassment, death threats, public exposure and “doxing,” which is the collection and publication of personal information without consent, among other manifestations of violence and attacks on freedom of opinion.
Under the title “The digital militias of the far right”The report by the Crisis Investigation Team (EdIPo) “shows that the link between the Executive Branch and the digital task forces is undisguisable, and that is why complaints to the courts are currently increasing,” says the FITU project in its grounds.
From the @Fte_Izquierda We present a project for the Chief of Staff to come and give an account of the government’s “digital task forces” to attack and harass opponents, as reported by various journalistic investigations. pic.twitter.com/r1TwELkx15
— Christian Castillo (@chipicastillo) July 29, 2024
The investigation of the magazine Crisis: a well-oiled modus operandi
The EdIPo report revealed that there is a list of “regular visitors” to the Casa Rosada, made up of “extreme right-wing twitterers” known for their “unabashed aggressiveness,” which became known after a request for Access to Public Information made by two X users.
At the moment, the information indicates that the militant structure of this group also includes Juan Pablo Carreira, current National Director of Digital Communication of the Presidency of the Nation, and the doctor Daniel Parisini, better known as “@GordoDan_” on the X network.
The Crisis team says that when this list was revealed, “the libertarian hunt was unleashed, deploying a well-oiled mode of operation”, which includes the publication of images, names, addresses, car license plates and bank debts. As part of this procedure, after the threats received by the users who requested the list, there were also intimidation at home: “a Mercado Libre delivery man rang the doorbell of his house and gave him the typical yellow bag from the company, inside which there was a plastic bowl with a transparent lid with dirt and worms. Hours later he received a message warning him that, if he followed it, he would also end up in the dirt.”
In recent weeks, the account of the doctor who boasts of his direct dialogue with the Executive, anticipated on this social network the dismissal of presidential advisors Teddy Karagozian and Julio Garro, the former Undersecretary of Sports of the Nation who was asked to resign after the scandal with the Argentine National Team and the racist chants.
A few days ago, at one of his morning press conferences, presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni praised him as “a great tweeter” and admitted knowing that he has “some connection with someone who works at the Casa Rosada.” The X user “El Gordo Dan,” whose real name is Daniel Parisini, is also the host of a program on the “Carajo” streaming service.
@eldestape Manuel Adorni could not answer Silvia Mercado when she asked him what the role of “Gordo Dan” is in the press area of Casa Rosada 👀 #milei #politics #viral #fyp ♬ original sound – El Destape
“Civil Association of Consumers for Freedom”
The complaints are multiplying and these days, in an interview with Ernesto Tenembaum on Radio con Vos, an astrologer and writer, Ayelén Romano, provided more elements about the modus operandi of these groups, denouncing the digital persecution she suffered as coordinator of a “spaces” (a live debate space through X), where various political forces converged. “First the KFC -the nickname that this digital task force would receive, NdeR- began to invade these spaces by publishing data on several of the participants,” Romano says, and relates that they then sent 3 trucks “to unload construction material at the door of the house.”
According to Crisis’ investigation, the service was contracted through the Civil Association of Consumers for Freedom. Through the General Inspectorate of Justice (IGJ), Crisis was also able to access another piece of information: shipments made through Mercado Libre and other actions that also included intermediaries, such as the placement of threatening banners or the hiring of dump trucks, always have the same sender.
In addition, in their virtual meetings on spaces (digital spaces like those of X), “KFC members publicly claim the use of weapons, Nazism and animal abuse” and emphasize that “an obsessive theme” in virtual and non-virtual actions “is the sexual one.” “In multiple discussions on the network they planned to send hundreds of ‘sex toys’” to their victims, particularly if they are women.
“Frequent attendees”
The news report also indicates that the doctor nicknamed “El Gordo Dan” in X and Juan Pablo Carreira, national director of Digital Communication, “come and go from the office of their boss, Santiago Caputo” and add that “his main landing, with his own people, was in the AFI, after the dismissal of Silvestre Sívori, a man from Posse. Apart from sensitive information, he went on to manage the opaque reserved funds of the spies. From that succulent black box would come the financing of the ultra-right parastatal networks.”
Finally, Crisis also maintains that “there are radicalized groups like KFC, whose immediate antecedents were Los Copitos, Revolución Federal and Equipo Republicano, which are outside the organizational charts” but which “operate as available labor and as a fierce autonomous pack willing to destroy targets in the current war scenario.”
“The method of public defamation, doxing, death threats through private messages, harassment at home and physical intimidation, from the actions of these digital groups, is a breeding ground for other expressions of violence, attacks against freedom of expression and hate attacks that extend to journalists, political leaders and activists, from the women’s and diversity movement, from the cultural sphere and other spheres that express their disagreement with the national government’s policy,” states the project presented by Castillo and the Left Front.
PR_Digital Task Forces by Sol Bajar
Source: www.laizquierdadiario.com
