The Ceuta crisis triggers a 76% increase in hatred and xenophobia on social media and puts migrant minors in the crosshairs

The massive influx of migrants into Ceuta has left a worrying ripple effect on social media. Racist and xenophobic content detected in Spain increased by 76% during August, the first full month since more than 70,000 people crossed the border on July 30 and 31.

The latest bulletin from the Spanish Observatory of Racism and Xenophobia quantifies 101,025 reportable hate speech messages and discriminatory narratives located during August. In July, there had been 57,406. The difference represents 43,619 more pieces of content in just one month.

The Ceuta crisis appears directly related to a good part of this growth. 39% of the analyzed messages revolved around the border crossing and the presence of thousands of migrants in the autonomous city. In absolute numbers, there are about 39,400 publications linked to Ceuta.

People from North Africa concentrated 72% of the attacks, four points more than in July. Messages against the migrant population reached 22%, and those directed against Muslim people represented 18%, two points more than during the previous month. Categories can coincide within the same publication, and therefore, their percentages overlap.

OBERAXE has also noted a greater presence of attacks against migrant women and unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents. The report does not offer separate percentages for these groups, although it warns of their special exposure to discrimination at a time when hundreds of minors are still awaiting identification and reception in Ceuta.

From insecurity to dehumanization

The most widespread narrative presents migrants as a threat. This type of content reached 43% of the analyzed messages, five points more than in July. Another 37% uses dehumanizing expressions that reduce an entire group to a dangerous, violent, or incompatible mass for coexistence.

The language used shows the harshness reached by digital conversation. 58% of publications contain explicit aggression, with insults, threats, and disqualifications directed against the targeted groups. The discussion on citizen security was present in 37% of the content, while the debate on public resources allocated to reception appeared in 19%.

The crisis has provided a particularly favorable scenario for mixing real facts, rumors, and generalizations. The presence of thousands of people in streets, beaches, and makeshift settlements, along with the incidents recorded during these weeks, has been used to attribute criminal behavior to the entire migrant population and fuel the perception of a permanent threat.

This narrative has had an immediate political translation. The far-right Vox has repeatedly used the term "invasion" to describe the entry of migrants and some of its leaders have further hardened their language. Deputy José María Figaredo even demanded that they be located and expelled "one by one" using an expression as forceful as "they must be hunted down".

Santiago Abascal's party has also brought to Congress a reform to link irregular immigration with terrorism in the National Defense Law and allow for broader intervention by the Armed Forces. The parliamentary majority has rejected the initiative, considering that it turned those who cross a border into a military threat.

The OBERAXE report does not attribute the increase to specific parties or leaders. Its data does show that expressions presenting migrants as enemies, invaders, or collectively responsible for insecurity dominate a substantial part of the conversation examined during August.

Criticism of the Government's response, concern for security, and the demand for greater border control are part of the public debate. The leap reflected in the data occurs when this discussion turns the origin, religion, or administrative status of thousands of people into a reason to insult them, threaten them, or deny them any individual consideration.

This digital hostility has accompanied weeks of strong tension in Ceuta. Along with mobilizations against the crisis management, demonstrations in defense of coexistence and against xenophobia have also been held. Public professionals, volunteers, and social organizations have continued to assist people who remain in precarious conditions while rejection on the internet grew.

YouTube barely removes 8% of reported content

The response from the platforms shows enormous differences. TikTok removed 100% of the content reported to it by the Observatory, and X removed 93%. Instagram acted on 72% and Facebook on 68%.

At the opposite extreme is YouTube. The platform only removed 8% of the racist and xenophobic messages reported, a difference of 92 points compared to TikTok. This data implies that it kept 92 out of every 100 contents that OBERAXE had flagged published.

The bulletin places the general removal rate in August at 73%, three points above the previous month. When the notification was made through the institutional condition of a trusted flagger, platforms removed 63% of the reported content, five points more than in July.

Identification is carried out using FARO, the Filtering and Analysis of Hate on Social Networks system. The tool uses artificial intelligence to detect, classify, and report posts on X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube based on criteria trained by the Observatory.

The 101,025 records include content potentially contrary to platform rules and discriminatory narratives. This figure does not equate to as many hate crimes, a criminal category that requires stricter requirements and must be assessed by the courts.

The monitoring allows observing the magnitude and evolution of a phenomenon that often precedes more serious forms of hostility. During August, while Ceuta was trying to return to normality, the system detected an average of more than 3,250 racist and xenophobic contents every day.