Deadly Spanish floods gave rise to a huge wave of disinformation. How can the media address it? 

On October 29, a cold drop weather phenomenon, also called DANA in Spanish, caused torrential rains in part of Spain, particularly south of Valencia. The floods destroyed everything in its path and caused more than 220 deaths. 

The worst natural disaster in the history of Spain gave rise to an uncoordinated response from authorities, both at local and national level. The government was criticised for their lack of prevention and the little aid provided in the days following the disaster, and many people felt abandoned and helpless. All of this created a fertile ground for misinformation.

“We haven’t seen anything like this, all this flood of disinformation, in Spain,” said Ximena Villagrán, director of operations at Maldita, a Spanish fact-checking organization. “There was a lot of conspiracy, which is the worst, because it’s a very coordinated strategy to put things in the minds of people. We have seen some content with the same narrative everywhere in all the platforms very quickly.”

The examples to supposedly explain the floods are numerous. We have seen the circulation of theories evoking the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP), a technology created by the Americans to supposedly modify the weather, or even another theory saying that Marocco created this to damage the land in Valencia and be able to send more products to Spain. 

Disinformation organised by Russia 

Other false information has circulated widely, such as a false emergency number supposed to replace 112, which turned out to be a scam, the assertion that dams were destroyed, which would have led to these floods, or even that of alleged hundreds of bodies found and hidden by the authorities in underground car parks of shopping centers.

“This is one of the most dangerous ones. You can wonder, who’s going to believe this? But actually, we have found tons and tons of it. We identify more than 20 [pieces of content] pushing to the same narrative that the government and authorities are hiding the numbers of deaths,” said Villagrán.

In the disaster areas, the anger against the authorities was huge. So much so that the visit of the Spanish King Felipe VI and the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, in Paiporta, one of the most affected towns south of Valencia, was disrupted. Angry residents shouted and threw objects and mud at them.

This official visit was also a source of misinformation. “We track all this content back to a Russian disinformation campaign. Basically, the idea is to say that your king and democracy doesn’t work. Democracy is the target. They want to break everything we trust in, break this western idea of how democracy works,” explained Villagrán, who spoke with eastern European countries more close to Russia, who observed the same phenomenon.

A toxic cocktail for disinformation

In the middle of the disaster, misinformation and conspiracy theories widely spread through online platforms, adding more confusion and anger among the population.

In situations of uncertainty where the information is not clear, disinformation and misinformation work better. Valencia is a typical example

said Raúl Magallón Rosa, professor in journalism at Carlos III University of Madrid

Citizens in the affected areas were doubtful about the quality of messages they were receiving and the sources they could hold on to, judging that the warning message to prevent flooding was sent too late by the authorities. “It was also a problem from official sources. There was a lack of central and regional government spokespersons in relation to the figures. So people were a bit lost, and after that, they don’t believe in official sources anymore, and the disinformation works better.”

The loss of power of the media and journalists in the face of ultra-powerful social media and influencers, or personalities with many followers, is also another factor that influences the amount of disinformation.

The difference between commentators, like influencers, YouTubers, people who have huge followers, and journalists is not always very clear for the public

explained Carlos Elías, a professor of journalism, specialising in disinformation and fake news

A striking example is that of Georgina Rodríguez, the wife of the famous soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo, who shared a video explaining that clothes given to the Valencia disaster victims were thrown away, which turned out to be false. “This video went everywhere in two hours,” said Villagrán. “Georgina, who is the most followed woman on Instagram in Spain, shared it in her story. This worries us a lot when important people in social media share this kind of disinformation.”

For Raúl Magallón Rosa, mainstream media have a crucial role to denounce the disinformation made by public figures on social media to regain public trust and fight against disinformation. “I really see a change in the past years. Media have decided to fight against the actors who can have a negative role in disinformation, like the influencers. This was the case in Valencia. El País made an article about it and decided to have an active role against disinformation.” But how can we be sure that the public becomes aware of this as they obtain more and more news only on social media?

What can we do?

Misinformation surrounding the Valencia floods was quickly spread around the world and in different languages. The theme of climate change, science, and natural disasters often gives rise to a lot of disinformation on social media. Should there be more control from the authorities on these platforms? The question divides. 

“The regulation can ultimately lead to dictatorship,” believes Carlos Elías. “We experienced this in Spain, so I don’t want that. The authorities don’t have the power to tell what is the truth or not and make it public. This is the purpose of journalism and science. So we need to improve the quality of journalism and better consider them. This is the only key to save democracy and fight fake news and disinformation.”

For Ximena Villagrán, online platforms urgently need to act. “[On] X, we realised that most of the viral content and disinformation were from accounts with the Twitter badge. It means that they are monetising, so getting paid for publishing disinformation,” said Villagrán, who regrets that digital platforms didn’t really implement specific measures to address it. 

The European Union is also pointed out. “This moment of crisis illustrates the urgent need for activating adequate crisis response social media mechanisms at the EU level,” concluded a report from the Maldita organisation about the floods in Valencia. The Digital Services Act (DSA) provides the EU with specific tools to proactively address public crises exacerbated by disinformation content. “Even if there is a regulation inside the DSA, no one applies that,” said Villagrán.

Finally, experts agree that media education is more essential than ever. “This is the environment we are living in now. So we have to learn even in the primary or secondary school that we are in a very difficult media environment and teach them how to check sources and the proper media and not to follow whatever they want, who might be interested in their publicity but not in the truth,” said Carlos Elías.

Cover photo: Floods in Valencia, courtesy of Romain Chauvet

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