Barcelona have denied contracting a PR company accused of criticising its players, former and current including Lionel Messi, on social media in order to boost the image of club president Josep Maria Bartomeu.
The club also announced that it was no longer involved with the PR firm I3 Ventures, with Bartomeu saying that he personally gave instructions to terminate the contract.
According to reports, I3 Ventures oversaw social media accounts attacking Barca players such as Messi, Gerard Pique and Xavi Hernandez among others on Facebook ad Twitter.
Barcelona, however, released a statement that the club “strongly denies any relationship and, furthermore, the contracting of services linked to social network accounts that have spread negative messages or disdain in relation to any person, entity or organisation that has or has had a relationship with the club.”
The club said that it hires social media monitoring services to track posts on them, but the firm hired to do so has no relation to these accounts.
Bartomeu also stated that the club had “never hired a service to discredit anyone”. The Spanish club has threatened legal action against any media organisations that :continue to implicate the club in this type of practice”.
“To the question―have we commissioned the monitoring of social networks? The answer is yes... To the question―have we commissioned to discredit people or institutions through social networks? The answer is no, and we will take action against all those who accuse us of that,” Bartomeu said.
(With inputs from agencies)
