„BOEC“ association organized a protest in front of the TELUS building. The company is behind Facebook moderation in our country. The demonstration is planned for January 18 at 4:00 p.m. in front of the company’s office entrance in Sofia, Macedonia Square, 1 Alabin St.
The discontent is under the motto: “Blocked block TELUS! No to censorship!” The organizers noted in their post:
“In recent years, the profiles of many of us have been blocked and our posts deleted without explanation or reason. Citizens, journalists and public figures were „under the knife“ because of their active civil position, expressed publicly in support of Ukraine, as well as because of posts against Putin’s obscurantism and the Bulgarian mafia. Since the year, the page of „BOEC“ has been under restrictions and blackout, the profiles are not blocked daily, and our materials revealing the crimes of Borisov, Peevski, Geshev, etc. are deleted. At this time, posts with open Kremlin and travel propaganda, posts containing threats and personal insults are helped because they do not violate the „standards“ in the social network!
We visited TELUS but they refused an appointment. Hundreds and thousands of irreconcilable Bulgarian citizens are in this situation. The questions are many and you need to get answers! We must stop the censorship. We must fight for our freedom and the right to express ourselves freely. There is no one else to do it for us. Just grumbling „on the web“ is not enough — we need to get out of the virtual world, ask our questions and seek answers and responsibility with real actions.
Carry with you printed on paper the deleted posts and the messages about the imposed blocks and restrictions. Carry your TELUS and Facebook messages on paper, and carry old keys and padlocks. And what we will do with them – we will tell you on the spot.
We cannot be truly free without freedom of speech!”
“Let’s block the entrance to the TELUS office and demand accountability and answers. In recent years, my account has been blocked exactly 50 times. In total, I have spent more than 3 years in „blocked“ mode because of my activities with „BOEC“ and the battles neither against the mafia nor the Kremlin’s fifth column. „BOEC“ we are subjected to a total medium blackout, wiretapping, persecution and repression. And despite all the blows they can’t stop us! „BOETS“ will be there!”, the leader of „BOETS“ Georgi Georgiev shared from his profile.
We remind you that Georgiev entered the TELUS building in the middle of last year and asked about Facebook three publications of the association revealing irregularities about Boyko Borisov and Ivan Geshev, and also blocked profiles. He did not receive a concrete answer then.
In recent years, quite often Bulgarian citizens, expressing their position without violating the standards in the network, are blocked. This is just a small list of persons who are regularly censored – Atanas Chobanov, Manol Glishev, Protest because of the blockade Kalin Manolov, Hristo Komarnitsky, Georgi Georgiev from BOETS, Radoslav Bimbalov, etc.
People are increasingly asking themselves:
– Who is behind electoral censorship?
– What is its purpose?
– Isn’t this process against the freedom of speech in Bulgaria?
– Does TELUS have the right to moderate content only by definition of people living in the EU country?
„Democratic Bulgaria“ will also request a hearing at the Commission for Culture and media company TELUS to provide more clarity on how posts, comments and users are moderated in Bulgaria.
„BOEC“ called on all those affected by electoral censorship on Facebook to attend the protest to express their displeasure against this monopoly.
