“In the morning I saw on Instagram and TikTok videos of people crossing the border (of Ceuta) saying: ‘The door is open.” This is one of the hundreds of messages, posts or recordings analyzed by the Moroccan computer engineer Maruán L. Alaui, who has been following the migratory crisis of the Spanish autonomous city in North Africa since the beginning. In a study shared on Instagram, he found that the hoaxes on social media that distorted a ruling by the Spanish Supreme Court, regarding hot expulsions of irregular migrants across the sea, triggered the human avalanche.
The coincidence of low tide at noon on July 30 with the unusual inhibition of the Moroccan security forces added up so that “the border stopped functioning as a barrier for several decisive hours” at the Tarajal wire fence, concludes this 40-year-old digital developer, expert in artificial intelligence.
“The images of two young women (newly arrived in Ceuta) accumulated 32,198,740 views,” he specifies in his detailed study. They were alive and smilingly celebrating that they had reached their destination. For an audience of potential young migrants, this meant in Alaui’s words “a practicable, immediate, and humane route,” against the dangerous currents of the Mediterranean.
This researcher followed the rise of migratory tension in the area from late June. In the days prior to the exodus on July 30 and 31, he had already “hooked” onto social networks to observe it in its digital projection. Before they disappeared from the digital ecosystem, he collected links, images, and text messages on which he based his analysis.
“There is no evidence that Rabat, Algiers, Madrid, a political party, a media outlet, or an influencer designed or gave the order for mobilization,” he concludes as “not proven” in his report. He insists that the manipulated promise of an open and paperless border, emphasized after the Spanish Supreme Court ruling made public on July 8, and the “credible crossing” confirmed from social networks by the first young people who entered Ceuta without restrictions intensified the migratory flood. “The absence of police surveillance did the rest,” he maintains.
“Everyone was online (…) when the appearance of a practicable walking route and the lack of police intervention suddenly enabled tens of thousands to cross (the border), but social networks alone cannot explain how it went from hundreds of attempts (in the previous days) to a massive breakthrough,” he argues in his research.
Alaui does note that “private and public” messaging groups provided contacts and logistical information. News about real crossings of the border between Castillejos and Ceuta were more “persuasive” than digital rumors. “The migratory market already existed beforehand in forums like Korob Haraga (“irregular migrant”) or Haraga Spain,” specifies this network expert. Travel companions are sought to share costs, boat or jet ski rides are advertised, contact phones are available, debate groups about entry routes… and details are referred to private groups by direct message (DM). “Pay when you arrive (in Ceuta). This is a walking route. Contact by DM,” indicates one of them, offering a price list (not detailed) and even reviews from previous users. Paid crossing offers were the majority in the days before the Ceuta crisis.
Read more La Primitiva: check Monday, August 10 draw
At six in the morning on July 30, social networks reported the presence of numerous swimmers accessing the Tarajal beach. At noon, with low tide, the migratory tsunami began. “It occurred in notable coincidence with the inhibition of the security forces. Both overlapping circumstances turned a risky swim crossing into a pedestrian route,” Alaui emphasizes in his report.
“You don’t need to swim, you just have to go around the fence (border),” the word-of-mouth messages on WhatsApp read. Within hours, calls from public groups to cross the Ceuta border spread through channels of the main cities of Morocco, organized in private channels. “Spain has opened the door,” was the slogan circulating on Facebook and Instagram. Until security controls were restored on August 1.
“Online directed mobilization”
The Moroccan National Human Rights Council (CNDH), an official state-dependent body, separate from humanitarian NGOs, specifies in a preliminary report that “digital groups played a central role in coordinating the swim crossings.” The CNDH points out the sale of swimming and diving equipment, dissemination of itineraries, meeting points, or real-time information about routes from Tangier and Tetouan to Ceuta circulated widely before July 30.
This body claims to have identified on WhatsApp and Instagram “potential network activity or intermediaries linked to human trafficking,” an official explanation about the origin of the migratory crisis shared by the governments of Rabat and Madrid.
The CNDH also records in its report the presence of “foreign accounts within Moroccan groups” that incited illegal immigration. It cites the case of numbers deleted in a group with a foreign indicator, and another with 18 “numbers associated with that same state.” The report text does not reveal the identity of the country mentioned, but official media have aired reports blaming Algeria, Morocco’s regional enemy, for being behind many of the irregular crossings to the Spanish autonomous city.
It is not only African rivals who are cited as shadow plotters of the migratory crisis. The European Union has also observed that channels linked to Russia quickly amplified the humanitarian emergency after the massive influx of migrants in Ceuta. Brussels has reported that it is investigating a possible disinformation campaign about the chaos at the Ceuta border with Morocco, without being able to confirm the Kremlin’s or its affiliated networks’ involvement in the direct organization of the migratory flood on Ceuta.
Read more CAF will donate 500,000 dollars to address the emergency caused by the earthquake in Colombia
