Health ministry asks Twitter to delete profiles that promote anorexia

The Spanish Health Ministry has asked the social network Twitter to delete profiles of users who explicitly encourage eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia, a spokeswoman explained yesterday.

"Several controversial accounts have been found this summer. This type of content affects young users who can interpret these types of harmful behaviors as normal," she said.

In light of the growing number of complaints received in the past few weeks - on August 26, an account encouraging young people not to eat was questioned and then closed - the ministry has decided "to do a Twitter clean-up to look for dubious accounts and then require the social network to perform self-regulation of its content." The petition has been made public under its own Twitter page: @sanidadgob.

"The application has been formalized through the Civil Guard. We can't delete any user profiles. We would need a judicial order and besides, that type of content is not considered an offense," explains the spokeswoman. As the content does not break any laws, the accounts keep reappearing, which makes the trend difficult to halt.

The ministry, along with the Telemetric Crime Unit of the Civil Guard, has created a network for the efficient detection of profiles that promote eating disorders.

"We will track down the controversial accounts with daily revisions," says the ministry spokeswoman. Once the problem profiles are identified, the Civil Guard will ask Twitter to block or delete the accounts.

EL PAÍS was unsuccessful in its attempt to determine the US-based social network's views on the issue. However, the network offers the option of blocking or deleting any type of hurtful or inappropriate comment.

Regular Twitter user Francisca Gómez claims that she does so frequently.

"If we see something controversial, we have to report it as we are all responsible," she states.