Catalonia

Twitter released a dataset containing a network of 130 accounts, which it said were ‘directly associated’ with the independence movement and Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (Republican Left of Catalonia)—a regional political party that supports independence for Catalonia. The Twitter network largely shared and amplified content supportive of Catalan’s independence from Spain and pro-independence political parties. The semi-autonomous region’s 2017 referendum on independence was strongly opposed by the Spanish Government, which did not accept the legitimacy of the vote. There were also contemporaneous accusations of foreign interference online and ‘fake news’ during the campaign and associated protests. The network continued to amplify pro-separatist messages into 2019, as Catalan independence leaders were convicted and jailed for rebellion, among other charges. The top three most retweeted accounts were @AlfredBosch, @Esquerra_ERC and @ERCbcn—verified accounts associated with the political party Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya—followed by a number of news websites.