Russian-linked disinformation amplified far‑right anti‑immigration rhetoric during Ceuta crisis, exposing systemic media manipulation and EU migration policy gaps
Original framing: “Russia-linked accounts spread far-right narrative online during Ceuta migration crisis, analysis finds” — The Guardian - World
Marginalised voices—including migrant women, LGBTQ+ asylum seekers, and stateless persons—are omitted from the mainstream narrative, erasing their specific vulnerabilities and agency. Amplifying these perspectives through community media and participatory reporting can disrupt the monolithic far‑right framing.
The Ceuta migration crisis illustrates how Russian state‑linked disinformation exploits pre‑existing xenophobic currents, leveraging digital platforms to amplify far‑right narratives that obscure structural failures in EU asylum policy.
Historical precedents of propaganda during refugee influxes, combined with the absence of indigenous, marginalised, and cross‑cultural perspectives, create a feedback loop that deepens societal polarization. Scientific network analyses confirm the disproportionate reach of coordinated inauthentic accounts, while trickster insights reveal the paradoxical dependence of destabilizing actors on the chaos they incite. Systemic solutions must therefore intertwine regulatory transparency, transnational media literacy, and the empowerment of migrant‑led media to reconfigure the information ecosystem and restore agency to the most affected communities.