Floods in Spain highlight disinformation's appeal during disasters
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A few days after the floods, a video showing a line of police cars with a voiceover saying it is the entourage of Spanish King Felipe VI, or in other instances that of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who were visiting Paiporta, one of the cities most affected, began to go viral online. "The King is escorted because otherwise he will be eaten alive," we can hear in the video, which fed a narrative that local authorities were more intent on escorting the King than helping the people.
In reality, however, the video shows police reinforcements - and not the King's bodyguards - arriving to help victims of the flooding. That same day, during the King's actual official visit in Paiporta, he was met with insults and mud-throwing.
Maldita identified that Russia was behind this disinformation campaign. "We started to analyze each channel and account where this video was published in different languages and finally went back to Russia. The initial distribution was made via Pravda channels and websites linked to Russian propaganda campaigns," explained Villagrán. The European Digital Media Observatory considers Pravda, which operates websites in several languages, a Russian disinformation network.
According to Maldita, the objective was clear: to destabilize the country, exploiting victims' anger toward authorities. "The idea behind it was to say: 'look, your King and your democracy don't work.' Democracy was really the target. [Russia wants] to destroy everything we trust, including this Western idea of democracy," explained Villagrán. Fact-checking organizations in Eastern Europe have observed the same phenomenon, she added.
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