The recent influx of migrants into Ceuta has driven a surge in xenophobic and racist hate speech on Spanish social media, reaching levels unseen in the past year. The Government’s Observatorio del Racismo y la Xenofobia (Oberaxe) detected 78,476 hate messages over 25 days from July 30, averaging 3,139 a day. That is more than twice the daily average recorded earlier in the year.
Oberaxe’s AI-based monitoring system found that only the Torre Pacheco riots in Murcia last summer produced a higher monthly total, with hate messages peaking at nearly 193,000. Nearly 17,000 hate messages were identified in the first three days of the Ceuta crisis alone. August 1 had the highest single-day count since the Torre Pacheco events. The surge coincided with the arrival of around 80,000 people in Ceuta over two days, overwhelming local infrastructure and fueling intense online hostility.
Tomás Fernández, director of Oberaxe, says social media platforms’ proactive efforts helped prevent even higher numbers. Platforms have removed hate content both after detection and preemptively, taking down 41.3% of flagged messages in the last month, he says. Fernández suggests that without these interventions, daily peaks could have continued unchecked. At the start of the crisis, Oberaxe contacted platforms and urged them to step up their vigilance. Their response helped contain the escalation, though the volume remained unusually high.
Daily hate speech detections across social media, social media, X, TikTok, and YouTube point to a clear link between events in Ceuta and the online spike. In the ten days before the migrant arrivals, daily hate messages averaged just over 1,500 and never topped 2,400. The count jumped above 4,500 on July 30, passed 5,800 the next day, then reached 6,615 on August 1. Numbers have since fallen but remain above normal, fluctuating alongside ongoing tensions.
From July 30 to August 9, Oberaxe recorded nearly 44,000 hate messages, equivalent to a typical full month. Fernández has described this pattern as a feedback loop between real-world events and digital hate, also examined in the article “Del discurso de odio online a los delitos de odio offline” (Nature, 2024). Tensions on the ground fuel online hostility, which can spill back into public life. That makes close monitoring of social media during crises impressive. A related analysis of the impact on daily life in Ceuta can be found in this report on the city’s ongoing tensions.
Oberaxe data from the past month shows that North Africans were the basic targets of hate speech (24%), followed by immigrants in general (24%), Muslims (16%), people of African descent (6%), foreign minors (5%), and Jews (5%). Some messages targeted multiple groups, pushing the totals above 100%. Examples cited by Oberaxe include slurs and dehumanizing language, often mixing ethnic and religious hostility, particularly toward people perceived as North African or Muslim. Islamophobia remains the most common theme, a trend that predates the current crisis.
Public security concerns were the leading trigger for hate messages (56%), followed by criticism of public policies (34%), sexual assault allegations (15%), terrorism (6%), sports-related issues (6%), and the arrival of boats (2%). The Ceuta crisis has unfolded as public concern about immigration grows. Recent surveys show a rising share of Spaniards see it as a top issue. The trend has not reached its 2024 peak, but is moving upward, and attitudes have hardened, especially among right-leaning voters. The narrative of “massive” or “invasive” migration has gained traction, shaping online discourse and political debate.
Spain saw its largest drop in migrant arrivals in 2025 since 2019, yet expectations of increased flows remain high. Surveys by Ipsos and 40dB show widespread negative associations with immigration, alongside deepening political divisions over the issue. The Ceuta crisis and the digital hate it has unleashed reflect broader anxieties. Authorities and social platforms face pressure to coordinate their responses.
