The massive influx of migrants in Ceuta had an immediate replica on social media. The FARO system of the Spanish Observatory of Racism and Xenophobia detected 9,590 hate messages only during July 30 and 31, three times more than usual on those dates.
The total volume of hate content and discriminatory narratives detected during July rose to 57,406, compared to the 40,800 counted in June.
The report, published this Tuesday by OBERAXE, monitors content on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and X.
Ceuta causes the end-of-month peak
The days 30 and 31 coincide with the massive entry from Morocco.
According to OBERAXE, those two days concentrated 9,590 contents, which explains a substantial part of the monthly increase.
The observatory expects that the Ceuta crisis will continue to have weight also in its bulletin corresponding to August.
Who receives more hate messages
People from the North of Africa were the main target of the content analyzed during July.
68% of the sample was directed against that group. Messages against immigrant people in general represented 19% and those directed against Muslims, 16%. The categories can overlap with each other.
Citizen insecurity was one of the narratives with the greatest presence.
Sports also had a high weight due to the celebration of the World Cup, which concentrated 34% of the content analyzed during the month.
The withdrawal of content rises to 70%
The report notes a significant improvement in the response of the platforms.
The content withdrawal rate for reported content reached 70%, nine percentage points more than during June.
OBERAXE differentiates between reports made by regular users and those channeled through specialized mechanisms such as the so-called trusted flagger.
The withdrawal after ordinary notifications remains much lower. Only 12% of the messages reported by any user were removed by the platforms.
How FARO works
FARO is the system with which OBERAXE conducts daily monitoring of hate speech in Spanish.
It combines automated tools with human review and tracks five major platforms. Its goal is not to measure absolutely everything published on the Internet, but to detect and analyze content compatible with the criteria of hate speech and discriminatory narratives used by the observatory.
For that reason, the 57,406 contents do not represent the total number of messages written about Ceuta nor can they be interpreted as 57,406 different users.
The hoaxes amplify a crisis
The migration crises also generate an additional problem: old images, videos from other countries, or decontextualized scenes can circulate again falsely attributed to current events.
Before sharing a video about Ceuta, it is advisable to check its original publication date, locate the place through visible elements in the image, and look for whether official sources or media on the ground have documented the supposed incident.
In times of high circulation, a real image can also become misinformation if published with a false date, location, or explanation.