FLORENCE. In these days, registered letters that are all the same are arriving in the mailboxes of dozens of Florentines, but not only them, making the recipients’ eyes widen because the sender, besides being a nationally prominent figure, also scares many. It is General Roberto Vannacci who is calling in the debts.
The leader of Futuro Nazionale has commissioned a team of nine lawyers to claim damages from many of those who have posted comments considered offensive on social networks under one of his Facebook posts from last March 28.
The video
That day in Florence, the first Futuro Nazionale office in Piazza Tanucci was inaugurated and the general, anticipating protests, posted a short video online in which he is seen shelling broad beans. “Beautiful day. Today broad beans, who knows how many we will find in Florence protesting…” he says smiling.
Now, everyone knows that broad beans, for Florentines and Tuscans in general, are indeed the pods, but they are also a way to address, often jokingly but still somewhat derogatorily, whoever is in front of you. The video is obviously provocative and had the predictable, perhaps intended, effect. Thousands of comments, mostly critical and often offensive, have flourished under that Facebook post. Nothing strange in the black-and-white world of social media.
After three months, Vannacci has presented the bill. The registered letters (certainly dozens, but perhaps hundreds) addressed to the commentators come from Talento Company srl, a company specialized in image rights. Formally, they are acts of warning and formal notice, referring to articles 2043 and 2059 of the Civil Code (unjust damage and non-pecuniary damage) and article 595 of the Penal Code (defamation).
Apologies and compensation
The recipients are asked for two things: to remove the comment considered offensive and to send a letter of apology. But it is warned that this will not be enough to settle the matter amicably. They are therefore invited to contact a Roman law firm within ten days “to start a discussion” with the lawyer in charge of handling the case. In other words, to find an agreement on a possible financial settlement.
Many recipients of the damage claims have not called that Rome number and perhaps did well. Many others, intimidated by the tone of the letter or less aware of the legal dynamics, certainly have called.
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Other comments also targeted
“We only claim damages in extreme cases – says lawyer Luca Guffetti Casadei from the Bologna bar, one of the nine deployed by Vannacci –. Before sending the registered letters, we evaluate the tone of the general’s post and then, if we realize that the recipient is a person without means, we settle for the removal of the comment and the letter of apology.” From this, it is understood that the general’s requests do not concern only that late March post, but also others under which comments considered offensive have been posted.
A formally lawful initiative, but one that morally raises some doubts. The suspicion is that this is a sort of “dragnet” that could profit from the fear of commentators, perhaps those less savvy: just to get rid of the Damocles sword of a defamation lawsuit or a formal damage claim, even before facing a trial, they would be willing to settle for a thousand euros, two thousand or maybe more.
Vannacci is not the only one doing this. It is said in the environment that there are many law firms scattered throughout Italy that live off this, that is, from settlements they manage to obtain by threatening criminal or civil actions for comments on social media considered offensive.
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