ACOM files complaint against Rubén Gisbert over antisemitic video

ACOM's complaint against Rubén Gisbert hides more than it shows

The association ACOM has filed a complaint against content creator Rubén Gisbert over a video it considers antisemitic. The affair, which has blown up in recent hours, has every chance of becoming a new episode in the culture war. But what matters is less the video itself than what the complaint reveals: an author on the brink of irrelevance, an organization accused of serving partisan interests, and a public divided between those who applaud the defiance and those who see a calculated provocation.

Two readings of the same video

Some argue that Gisbert said in the video what many people think and that the complaint is the price of breaking with the official narrative. Others, less sympathetic, believe he cast the bait hoping someone would bite: if ACOM pursues him for expressing an opinion, he has months of coverage and a golden round of TV appearances guaranteed. The two readings are not incompatible. What nobody disputes is that the controversy has restored a centrality he had already lost.

Politics looming over the complaint

The affair is entangled with suspicions of a web of interests. In the analyses circulating, it is suggested that ACOM maintains ties with political parties and pressure groups of various stripes. It is an accusation that is hard to prove, but it explains the reaction of those who distrust antisemitism complaints when they come from an organization with its own agenda. The case has also become wrapped up in a broader discrediting operation, with echoes of the attempt to destroy Pedro Baños's credibility.

As of this discussion, the complaint is on the table. But the real outcome is already being fought out in public opinion. Gisbert may lose in court or win in the debate: the paradox is that, either way, he comes out stronger. And for an organization that denounces censorship, that is an irony worth keeping in view.