Cardona’s Twitter spat brings out all the boys into the playground

Minister, government appointees, PN apparatchiks and activists go nuts in Twitter spat

There’s a fight brewing on Twitter! But the question is… why is the minister for the economy getting in the muck with the president of student organisation SDM over his retweet of a critical piece on Malta’s media and defamation bill.

To put everything into context, it’s the same media bill that proposes outlawing precautionary warrants on defamation (and Cardona has served two such warrants on Malta Independent columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia).

At 11:40am, Gabriel Micallef – a president of the student group Studenti Demokristjani Maltin, a Christian-democrat organisation that enjoys some overlap with the PN’s youth organ – tweeted a Times report on the criticism of the new media bill.

 

Then at 5:20pm, of all people, in comes the minister for the economy Chris Cardona with a tweet that seems to leave little to the imagination, especially given to his direct hint of some form of government posting for Micallef…

 

At 7pm, Net TV’s report Mario Frendo, who has followed up on Daphne Caruana Galizia’s claims that Cardona was spotted inside a German brothel while on government duty (and which Cardona has replied to with libel suits and a garnishee order on the potential damages she would have to pay if she loses the suit) entered the fray, namedropping the Prime Minister’s aide Glenn Bedingfield in the process.

 

Cardona hits back, having also sued for libel Mario Frendo for his reports on the brothel allegations…

 

The bullish Frendo seems he can’t get enough of Cardona…

 

And in comes Joseph Gerada, the consultant allegedly in Cardona’s presence at the brothel, who also sued Caruana Galizia and Frendo, hitting out at the fact that Frendo’s “follow-up” was to go to the brothel and find two prostitutes who could recognise the two men. Hashtags: #noncrediblewitnesses #3prostitutesin3hours

 

In comes the cavalry: it’s the civil liberties minister’s son Luke Dalli – also on a government retainer as the legal officer of the Arts Council and party-sponsored satirist with Glenn Bedingfield on One TV show Tanatnejn – showing how he’d take Glenn over anyone anytime…

 

Response by PN youth organ MZPN’s vice-president Nicky Azzopardi, another chap who enjoys getting his hands dirty in trash-talk with Labour, who hits back at Dalli…