Barcelona has been cleared against charges of using social media to smear their own players by an independent report from PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The Catalan club paid a company, called I3 Ventures, around one million euro for its services. I3 Ventures then set up several pages which at some points attacked current players such as Lionel Messi and Gerard Piqué, former players such as Carles Puyol and Xavi, political rivals of club president Josep Bartomeu, and former coach Pep Guardiola.
Other posts made comments about sports figures not directly related to Barcelona. although the coverage was mostly about Barcelona players.