On Aug 7, the European Commission met with both platforms during a crisis, calling on both companies to “act decisively” to curb disinformation on their platforms in times of crisis, the European Union’s tech chief said.

With a rumour on social media claiming the Ceuta border was open, tens of thousands of men, women and children ran into Spain’s North African territory, causing the deaths of many, it is believed, in a wave of social media disinformation.

Henna Virkkunen, commissioner of tech sovereignty, security and democracy, said that platforms need to take action to preserve the integrity of the digital space, especially in times of crisis.

“Monitoring must increase, cooperation with fact-checkers to be strengthened,” said Virkkunen, adding the EU would be “following up on Monday”.

Spain was quick to get the people back from Ceuta, announcing on Aug 4 that all but 2,000 of the 72,000 individuals who crossed on July 30 and 31 from Morocco had left.

According to the Spanish authorities, 80 people lost their lives crossing.

The incident was pounced on by right-wing voices as evidence that Europe is under siege from uncontrolled immigration. It has led to a diplomatic spat between Spain and other EU member Italy, which takes a hardline approach on migration. 

EU migration chief Magnus Brunner Aug 4 labelled the Ceuta action a “test” for security of borders and “resilience to disinformation”.

The crossings were “fuelled by criminal smuggling networks and also disinformation”, Brunner said, but warned it was “too early” to determine whether the “instrumentalisation” of the situation online was by smugglers or a foreign power, like Russia.

He cautioned the EU “must enhance our ability to track misinformation trends on social media platforms in collaboration with Europol and all other agencies of the EU”.

The migrant rush was a “deliberately organised operation”, according to an open-source investigation by technology firm Golden Owl, which they have found “with a high degree of confidence”.