THE TWEET WAR:AN EXPERIMENTAL "tweet-wall" on giant TVs in the main hall of the EU summit in Brussels was shut down to avoid causing embarrassment to Silvio Berlusconi after being hijacked by Italian Twitter users who bombarded it with messages, calling their prime minister "a mafioso" and "a paedophile".
Postings on the microblogging site tagged “#EUCO” were automatically fed to a pair of large plasma screens in the main hall of the Brussels building in which the 27 leaders of Europe were meeting to discuss a response to the euro zone debt crisis.
But soon after it was launched on Thursday, Italian Twitter users flooded it with anti-Berlusconi messages. After only two hours, the “tweet-wall” was replaced by anodyne footage of summit proceedings and the European Council logo.
“Berlusconi pays for sex, for votes, for mafia protection, for everything he can buy. What he cannot buy will be stolen,” one tweet read. “Berlusconi is a mafioso but he make laws for be not judged,” said another.
At 3pm, the Euro-blogger Joe Litobarski realised what was happening and wrote: “Uh oh. Italians have realised tweets tagged #EUCO shown on Twitter wall at #EU Council meeting – expect mayhem”.
But it was the messages sent by mpietropoli, an Italian designer, that caused the system to be taken down. One read: “Mussolini never killed anyone. Mussolini used to send people on vacation in internal exile” – an alleged quote from the prime minister.
“The point was not to show insulting messages about Berlusconi. If anyone from the Italian delegation saw it, it would hurt their sensibility,” said Dana Manescu, who organised the wall – (Guardian service)