Nearly 9,600 Hate Messages on Social Media During Ceuta Migrant Influx

Social media platforms registered a significant spike in hate speech following the mass entry of migrants into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta from Morocco on July 30 and 31. The Spanish Observatory of Racism and Xenophobia (Oberaxe) recorded 9,590 hate messages across social networks within just two days, according to a report by EFE.

This intense wave of online discourse directly correlated with the influx of an estimated 80,000 people into Ceuta. The Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security, and Migration noted that this "peak" of messages related to the crisis in the North African city fueled a broader increase in discriminatory content online throughout July. The observatory documented 57,406 such pieces of content in July, a notable rise from the 40,800 recorded in June.

The observatory's monthly bulletin highlighted that individuals from North Africa remain the primary targets of online hate speech, accounting for 68% of the analyzed content in July. General anti-immigrant messages represented 19% of the total, slightly higher than messages targeting Muslims, which comprised 16%. Other targeted groups included Afro-descendants and Latin Americans, at 10% and 7% respectively. The report also indicated that a significant portion of these messages involved dehumanization or severe degradation, with 38% containing threats and 15% inciting expulsion.