Nasty Tweets About Berlusconi Hit EU Summit Screens

EU summit organizers got far more than they bargained for after erecting a “tweet-wall”—two giant screens that displayed Twitter messages to the 27 European leaders who were meeting yesterday. Italian Twitter users soon discovered that anything tagged “#EUCO” would appear on the screen—and proceeded to post a flurry of insults aimed at Silvio Berlusconi, calling him a “pedophile” and “mafiosi.” After two hours, the screens were taken down, the Guardian reports.

“Berlusconi pays for sex, for votes, for mafia protection, for everything he can buy. What he cannot buy will be stolen,” read another tweet. An Italian designer displayed embarrassing quotations from the prime minister, some praising Mussolini, others insulting voters. The tweet-wall “wasn't moderated and a lot of the tweets were...well, very, very frank,” said an organizer.
(More Twitter stories.)