“For the mental health of the following Benidorm Fest contestants, we would appreciate it if space was given to people who support and do not destroy people, because the truth is that we have also had a bit of a hard time.” The Twin Melody could not suppress tears this Wednesday at a press conference. To the pressure of the competition itself, the artists add that of those who take advantage of the direct line of social networks to insult.
Hate in the networks has flown over any conversation in this edition of the Benidorm Fest. The winner of the first semifinal himself named an influencer who has targeted him in recent years at the press conference after his victory. “Malbert, are you around? I saw him around before,” Agoney snapped. “Maybe I made the mistake of naming a person, but I took advantage of the fact that I had him in front of me, I had never responded in five years of harassment,” he recalls later in a conversation with EL MUNDO, “you have to re-educate these people, it’s a They are the ones who need to be taught a lesson”.
Those who spread hate must be re-educated, it is they who must be taught a lesson
But what does the Benidorm Fest have that unleashes so many passions, also negative ones? “It is still a contest, and where there is a contest, it happens as in sports,” says Isidro Mayor, president of the Eurovisivos Association (AEV), one of the largest Eurofan organizations in Spain. “At the moment the game is played, who wins, the visceral moves more.”
Eurovision and its derivatives, such as the Benidorm Fest, are events that move the masses, and the anonymity provided by social networks, often driven by the likes and phobias of people with thousands of followers, can elevate an artist to the podium or destroy their career. Hence the tears of Twin Melody: “You always say no hate, but then you give voice to people who are giving all the time…”, they lamented.
Mónica Naranjo herself, presenter of the Benidorm Fest galas, directly asked for respect for the results after the controversy that arose in the previous edition, which even caused Chanel to abandon social networks: “I, from the bottom of my heart, want to ask you for a thing. I know that music arouses many emotions and that it is something subjective,” he stated, “for this reason, because we are celebrating musical diversity but also diversity of opinions, I ask you for respect and affection. Here and on networks. Both for the artists and for those who are going to express their opinion”. “Remember: music was born free, let’s not dirty it,” she concluded her plea.
I recommend artists who participate in Eurovision and its derivatives to leave the networks during the contest
Isidro always recommends artists who participate both in Eurovision and in their national preselections to leave the networks during the contest: “They can do so much damage that they end up not believing the project they have. We play a lot with people’s careers, with their bread, You have to be very careful,” he warns.
The minefield that online platforms often become, aggravated by the anonymity they provide, worries experts. Borja Adsuara, a professor and lawyer who is an expert in digital law, focuses on what he calls herd or swarm harassment: “Each user uses their sting, but if you get stung by many bees, the level of toxicity can kill you. If there are 10,000 people insulting someone online, do you put 10,000 in jail?
An ‘influencer’ with thousands of followers has to anticipate that his insults could end in lynching. Has a legal responsibility
The key, on a legal level, is to establish the origin of that lynching, often someone with a large following who incites his particular army to lynch. “It is not well regulated because they are very new crimes, but it is prosecutable by legal means as incitement to harassment,” he explains, “the problem is to demonstrate that the original intention was that.”
The expert alludes to a term that can become a lifeline for the victims of these herd harassment: eventual fraud. “Sometimes you can’t prove that the original instigator had that exact intention, but I couldn’t rule out that it could happen,” he says, “when someone with thousands of followers insults you have to anticipate that it provokes a reaction that can end in mass harassment, and has a responsibility.”
“It is part of the eurofan world, if there is no eurodrama it loses its charm a bit,” acknowledges the president of AEV, “but it cannot become hooliganism. Eurodrama is fine, but controlled.”
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