Remigration. An Italian journalist receives 100,000 threats on Facebook

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Ossigeno Offers Him Legal Assistance to Defend Himself – The Case – Social Media Rules and Media Bullying

OSSIGENO June 10, 2026 – Ossigeno per l’Informazione and its Legal Help Desk, in collaboration with Media Defence, have decided to assist Mantua-based journalist Vincenzo Corrado, a victim of one of the most serious recent acts of digital intimidation committed in Italy against media professionals. Over the past two months, this journalist—who will be assisted by the Help Desk’s coordinator, Attorney Andrea Di Pietro—has published several posts on his Facebook page in which he legitimately expressed well-founded criticism of the proposed citizens’ initiative bill on so-called “remigration.” Immediately afterward, he was hit by an avalanche of online threats and intimidation. A veritable digital offensive characterized by a staggering number of hostile comments, explicit threats, insults, and slurs aimed at discrediting him and silencing him.

According to a conservative estimate provided by the journalist himself, there are an estimated 100,000 comments attributable to the massive hate campaign against him. This makes it essentially impossible to prosecute the haters one by one. Therefore, the incident explicitly calls into question the responsibility of the platform operator, which, in such cases, according to the rules of conduct made public to protect users, would be required to intervene to put an end to the violations.

THE JOURNALIST – Vincenzo Corrado, a professional journalist since 2008 and contributor to several national publications, uses his public Facebook page as a tool for his journalistic work. On that page, he regularly posts informative content based on data, statistics, and official sources.

THE CASE  is of interest beyond the single incident: if left unpunished, this form of intimidation could be used against other social media users. Given the scale it has reached, its intensity, and its prolonged duration,  this incident does not fall within the category of frequent, occasional expressions of dissent, nor among the numerous but fleeting instances of online public debate running amok.

In addition to its scale, the systematic nature of the attacks lends this episode a particularly intimidating character. After the first few days, the journalist published other content entirely different in subject matter and topic, yet the offensive and intimidating comments continued to target the journalist personally and his professional work

Ossigeno therefore believes that a particularly insidious form of undue pressure against freedom of information has been directed against this journalist. When a journalist, as in this case, is inundated with thousands of hostile messages, threats, and coordinated smear campaigns, it is not only his personal reputation that is harmed but also the free exercise of his profession.

THE ROLE OF PLATFORMS – More broadly, this case raises serious questions about the willingness and ability of major digital platforms to address these grave violations of freedom of expression. The current content moderation policies adopted by platforms provide for regulatory interventions by the platform to address similar cases. In this instance, and thus far, these rules have proven inadequate in the face of digital attacks that take the form of what can be described as “media mobbing”—that is, a deliberate, widespread, repeated, and mass violent assault aimed at silencing those who disseminate unwelcome news or opinions. Moderation policies should not permit attacks of this nature, which transform a peaceful space intended for information and the exchange of ideas into a place dominated by a violent, intolerant, and intimidating atmosphere.

In the case of Vincenzo Corrado, the problem was precisely this: violent comments destroyed the viability of a space for dialogue and civil discourse, establishing a systematically aggressive climate in which the journalist who runs that space was subjected to public ridicule and continuous, public, and permanent intimidating pressure, without anyone intervening to stop the aggression and restore the possibility of civil and respectful discourse. 

Turning a blind eye to such instances of hate speech can have intimidating effects that extend beyond the individual target; it can lead others to self-censor or otherwise restrict their professional reporting activities.

OSSIGENO will follow Vincenzo Corrado’s case, publicly highlighting it as a serious violation of press freedom and assisting the journalist through its Legal Helpdesk to assess the legal and administrative actions to be taken against both the online aggressors and Facebook, so that the latter intervenes to put an end to the serious situation that has arisen. All this is done in the belief that journalists (and, alongside them, all social media users who act responsibly) deserve to be defended and protected from threats designed to limit their freedom to express themselves and to disseminate and comment on ideas, opinions and news.

The spread of media mobbing on social media is one of the urgent challenges that must be addressed to defend freedom of expression and the right of citizens to receive information free from intimidation and manipulation.

Alberto Spampinato

See other cases handled by Ossigeno’s Legal Helpdesk