Spanish far-right politicians, Polisario separatists, Algerian mouthpieces and Russian bots and certain Morocco phobic media figures have seized on the recent mass migrant crossings into the Spanish-occupied enclave of Ceuta to launch a coordinated campaign of disinformation and hostile coverage targeting Morocco, Spanish fact-checkers and international investigations show.
Three weeks after tens of thousands of young migrants crossed into Ceuta, the Spanish verification platform Maldita.es has documented 37 false or decontextualized pieces of content.
These include videos filmed in Turkey’s Şırnak province or South Africa presented as images from the Strait of Gibraltar, footage from Melilla or Nador recycled as Ceuta scenes, AI-generated photographs of floating shoes, and misleading television banners.
Investigations by the counter-disinformation group 411, reported by The Guardian and The Irish Times, traced much of the amplification to channels directed from Moscow.
Analysis of some 4.5 million posts revealed content portraying the crossings as a coordinated “assault,” frequently laced with Islamophobic and antisemitic themes. Material was reproduced in seven languages and surpassed 720,000 views within six hours on 1 August via the Telegram channel Rybar- linked to Russian intelligence and subject to EU sanctions- and the wider Pravda network.
Researchers described the operation as a “highly organized information highway” prepared for future Mediterranean border incidents.
The surge followed a 29 June Spanish Supreme Court ruling (decision 814/2026) stating that immediate returns could not apply to people intercepted while swimming toward Ceuta or Melilla because of the lack of a physical barrier at sea.
Social media rapidly distorted this into claims that the border was open. Spanish civil guard and police unions had warned authorities in July of a legal vacuum and rising maritime arrivals, calling for clear protocols.
Spanish Interior Ministry officials said a floating barrier was installed within 48 hours of the decision to deploy it.
Spanish far-right and center-right figures converted the human tragedy into political ammunition. Vox leader Santiago Abascal denounced the Spanish government as a “traitorous and corrupt mafia,” spoke of an “invasion” and an “act of war promoted by Morocco,” and demanded permanent militarization of the border.
Popular Party leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo called for the prime minister’s urgent appearance in parliament and the immediate return of those who entered. Ceuta’s PP president Juan Jesús Vivas cited 80,000 entries before the European Parliament.
Several Spanish outlets adopted the language of “assault” and “invasion.”
The death toll remains disputed. Ceuta’s Institute of Legal Medicine had received 80 bodies and performed 79 autopsies by 5 August, with only six identified by 20 August, according to EFE.