Ceuta misinformation has prompted Meta and TikTok to strengthen fact-checking and activate special crisis mechanisms after false information circulating online contributed to the mass movement of migrants towards the Spanish enclave in late July.
The two social media companies have agreed with the European Commission to establish an ad hoc cooperation mechanism involving fact-checkers, while Europol and EU officials are maintaining daily contacts with the platforms. The measures follow the migration crisis of 30 and 31 July, when more than 70,000 people crossed irregularly into Ceuta from neighbouring Morocco and nearly 100 people died.
Meta and TikTok activate crisis protocols over Ceuta misinformation
According to Reuters, Meta and TikTok have activated crisis protocols and established an “ad-hoc escalation and cooperation mechanism with fact-checkers”.
The mechanism is intended to allow fact-checking organisations with knowledge of the local context to identify potentially harmful false information more quickly and communicate it to the platforms.
The companies have also committed to prohibiting content linked to people smuggling on their services. The European Commission said platforms can block or reduce the visibility of content under the mechanism.
Henna Virkkunen, the European Commission’s Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, said the objective is to prevent criminal networks from using false information to encourage people to attempt dangerous crossings.
“The European Commission, Europol and platforms are exchanging daily and we have increased our coordination,” Virkkunen wrote on 10 August. She added that Meta and TikTok had activated their crisis protocols and introduced the new cooperation mechanism with fact-checkers.
False claims helped drive people towards the Spanish border
The intervention follows evidence that social media played an important role in the events that overwhelmed Ceuta, one of the European Union’s two land borders with Africa together with Melilla.
False claims suggesting that the border with Spain was open spread rapidly across Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, alongside videos showing crossings and information about possible routes.
An Associated Press investigation found that misleading posts included information about swimming routes, coastguard activity and supposed changes in Spanish migration policy. Some users interpreted the material as evidence that reaching Spanish territory had become easier.
The origins of the rumours remain more difficult to establish. Le Monde reported that there was no conclusive evidence of a single coordinated operation behind the initial claims, with misleading information spreading through both public social media accounts and private messaging channels.
The crisis nevertheless demonstrated how quickly online information can affect migration movements. In the days after the mass crossings, El País found that social media posts were already promoting another attempted mass crossing for 15 August.
The EU can go further under the Digital Services Act
For now, the additional measures agreed with Meta and TikTok are voluntary. The European Commission does not directly order the companies to remove individual pieces of content through this crisis mechanism.
However, the agreement operates within a wider European regulatory framework.
Meta and TikTok are signatories to the EU’s Code of Conduct on Disinformation, which became formally integrated into the framework of the Digital Services Act (DSA) on 1 July 2025. The European Commission says the code now represents an important benchmark for assessing how very large online platforms comply with their obligations to address systemic risks.
Under the DSA, major platforms must identify and mitigate risks associated with their services, including those connected to the dissemination of harmful content and threats to public security.
The Commission has consequently left open the possibility of demanding further action if the measures introduced after Ceuta prove insufficient. A Commission spokesperson told El País that Brussels currently considers the mechanism effective but is prepared to go further if necessary.
The response to the Ceuta misinformation crisis therefore represents more than an isolated content-moderation intervention. It is also an early test of how the European Union, national authorities, fact-checkers and major digital platforms can coordinate when online falsehoods rapidly translate into consequences at the EU’s external borders.
