Sánchez sues Alvise Pérez and EDA TV: Spain's hunt for online critics begins

Alvise Pérez and EDA TV, sued: the hunt begins

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s lawsuit against Alvise Pérez and his media outlet, EDA TV, is unlikely to silence anything. Most likely, it will do the exact opposite. The complaint was notified to the channel, and the matter, according to the first analysis, was gaining estimulante ilegal: less time than many expected between the announcement and the legal filing. The chosen framework is that of "fake news," and the controversy starts there. Because the disputed issue is not whether the figure exaggerates—there are opinions for all tastes—but whether the State should decide what is a lie and what is not.

What is known about the lawsuit and the media outlet

EDA TV is the platform from which the agitator turned MEP distributes his content, and the complaint targets both the responsible party and the channel. The first analysis suggests that the hunt is not limited to one name: it also reaches media outlets that publish what displeases the Moncloa. Some argue there were much simpler ways to bring the figure to court—such as harassment or leaking third-party private data—and that the door to censorship was chosen instead. On the other side, the counterargument is summed up in one sentence: fake news creators must be stopped. Both positions coexist without reconciling.

The Streisand effect and who owned the "mud machine"

When someone tries to suppress information, the result is usually the opposite: more dissemination, more audience, and more curiosity. This is the Streisand effect, and in this matter, it appeared cited with its textbook definition: an attempt at censorship or cover-up that fails because the information ends up being widely disseminated and receives greater visibility than it would have had if kept silent. The underlying irony is another. The expression "mud machine" is attributed to Italian Umberto Eco, but not to point to power complaining about the press, but the reverse: it described Berlusconi's strategy against media and judiciary not aligned with him. The term has changed hands, and it is now used in the opposite direction to where it was born.

The judicial record: the lawsuits said to have been won

Around the case circulated a difficult-to-verify claim: that Alvise Pérez had won all the lawsuits filed against him, "dozens," according to that version. In the same package, it was spread that the Supreme Court had ruled in his favor in the lawsuit with journalist Ana Pastor, with a condemnation to pay court costs, a resolution the interested party had used to demand public rectification from media labeling him as convicted. It is advisable not to swallow this without verification: these are data attributed to media close to the plaintiff himself, not an accessible judicial confirmation. Those who wish to maintain that the hunt is a trap have their best ammunition there; those who wish to maintain that the figure lives on slander do too.

Who does Alvise cost votes? The electoral calculation

The first reading of the political impact was contrary to what the complainant sought: the defendant benefits. The nuance matters. This voter's profile is not the classic ideologically abstaining voter nor the disillusioned left-wing voter: circulating calculations point to a transfer from right-wing parties and, above all, from those fed up who stayed home and now see a reason to vote. A group name alone captures quite a bit of that mood. The question no one resolves with data is how much of that vote is new and how much is simply borrowed vote that will return home.

Immunity, Euro Parliament, and the race against the clock

Here is the procedural detail most repeated. The dominant hypothesis in the analysis is that haste has a technical explanation: the figure is to be indicted before he consolidates his seat and immunity. If so, the judicial calendar weighs more than the substance of the matter. The question remains what happens with MEPs already convicted and how immunity behaves in those cases. And a criticism not only from his supporters: the suspicion that in Brussels it ends up being just another public salary, that seat of about 8,000 euros a month that has domesticated so many careers.

Local episodes and street shaming

The other front is small Spain. The channel itself published the account of its reporters accosted in a municipality in Toledo, with names and surnames of neighbors and a union affiliate who, according to that version, joined the shouts and threats; a resident of the town summarizes the atmosphere with one sentence: "he is disliked by 80% of the town." With these materials, the line between complaint and shaming becomes blurred, and it is exactly where the matter can become poisoned.

Georges... The circulation of unproven claims, such as the alleged payment of 30 million dollars from the Medellín organización criminal to the PSOE, serves as a reminder: in this war, verified data is scarce and rumor runs free.

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How does this close? No one knows. If the lawsuit advances, the process will give the defendant more TV minutes and more material for his martyr narrative. If it gets stuck, the Government will have to explain why it peine the door. With what is on the table, the reasonable bet is that the noise will rise before any judge rules on the substance.