Muslims and migrants in Spain: How fake news is keeping minorities sidelined
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Loading... - Jesus Silva
- 24 Mar 2023
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The rise of immigration in Spain has brought an increase in Islamophobic fake news being spread online to demonise migrants and Muslim communities
As a group of young Arab men sail across the Mediterranean Sea in search of a new life in Spain, they bring with them a clear message to their new hosts. "We are going to cut the throats of all the unfaithful Spaniards who do not praise [Prophet] Muhammad," they seemingly chant as they approach Spanish shores, one of them wielding a small knife.
'Fake news about Muslims in Spain is constant and is closely linked to migration fake news. The most common themes are those linking Muslims to benefits and terrorism'
- Natalia Diez, journalist
A video depicting the young Arab migrants at sea recently surfaced online and quickly spread among Spanish Facebook, Twitter, Telegram and WhatsApp users. "He looks very threatening with that knife. This is scary and our politicians are just happy to let them in," one user comments.
"What a disgrace. Can you imagine that later the guy with the knife is one of those who slaughters Christians in a church? We put them up in hotels with full board and if you speak out you're a fascist or a racist," another says. However, as it soon turned out, the representation of the video's content was fake. In reality, the video was repurposed and accompanied by an erroneous Arabic translation in order to be peddled online as a tool of hate. A little research and deft use of a song-identifying app have shown that the young men in the video were in fact singing along to the Algerian hit song Bye Bye Salam.
The video is one of many recent items of fake news that have spread in Spain with the aim of attacking immigrants, predominantly Arabs and Muslims. Among them are false claims, including of 500 boats carrying migrants destined for Spain, mosques breaking social distancing rules to hold prayers, Muslim communities forcibly removing pork from school menus, and illegal Arab immigrants benefiting from the national welfare system. "Lies about migration try to reinforce four main ideas about immigrants and Muslims: that they're dangerous; that they have privileges when it comes to receiving welfare; that they are going to impose their culture; and that the institutions are going to allow it," says Natalia Diez, journalist and migration fact-checker at Maldita Migracion.
Fake news
The spread of fake news has coincided with a large rise in immigration. In 2019, Spain saw a record 748,759 immigrants enter the country. Colombians, Moroccans and Venezuelans made up the three largest immigrant nationalities. "Fake news about Muslims in Spain is constant and is closely linked to fake news about migration. When it comes to fake news about Islam, the most common themes are those linking Muslims to benefits, violence and terrorism," Diez explains. "Through disinformation, the foreignisation of Muslims in Spain is reinforced, since most of the fake news about Muslims links them directly with immigration. Read More…
