Exposed by the Municipality of Udine on the social competition “Christmas Balcony”: it risks being canceled

UDINE. Predictably, the “Christmas Balcony 2021” photo contest is in danger of being canceled.

The suspicion that many of the “likes” that appeared under part of the photos taking part in the contest and published on the Facebook page of the Municipality may be bogus (the result of likes won for a fee), can be confirmed after the investigation of the case carried out by the postal police.

On Tuesday 18 January the mayor, Pietro Fontanini, on the sidelines of the post-junta press conference, announced his intention to “present a complaint to the police headquarters to ask for some checks on those who took part in the competition.

Interferences have been noted such as to spoil the outcome of the same. Among those who voted, there are many users who do not reside in the city, in Friuli Venezia Giulia, in Italy or in Europe, but much further away.

And certainly the flowered balconies of Udine have never seen them, but they only try to manipulate the final result. After obtaining a response to our complaint – highlights the mayor – we will act accordingly. We will probably suspend the competition ».

The commissioner Maurizio Franz embittered: «We are sorry that we are trying to interfere with an initiative created to encourage the people of Udine to embellish balconies and windows during the Christmas holidays. Evidently someone was not able to grasp the true spirit of the initiative ».

A competition that would have awarded one thousand euros to the most voted photograph on Facebook (the total participants of the first edition were 27), 500 to the second and 300 to the third.

Now the conditional is a must, since the prizes will almost certainly not be awarded. To realize that something is wrong with the voting system, just take a look at the likes gleaned from some of the images, and in particular from the first of the post, which reached 1,749 “likes” despite not being particularly representative in the field of Christmas decorations.

Most of the votes received come from Far East countries, the result of fake profiles and almost never corresponding to real identities. As Barbara Todisco, social media expert and communication consultant explained a few days ago, “there are several ways to verify the authenticity of those likes.

There are applications to understand if they are fake profiles. Whoever manages the page, in this case the Municipality of Udine, has the opportunity to learn more ».

A contest that did not have an easy life from the beginning: at first little considered by the people of Udine, then ended up at the center of the controversy for the participation of some close relatives of municipal councilors, and finally for the purchase of fake “likes”.

Moreover, the latter operation, not even expressly prohibited by the competition regulations. The word to the postal police