Colin Sheridan: Ceuta disaster is real. But it also has an entirely fake second life on social media

Social media disinformation duped thousands of people to flood into Spain's African exclave — and, as the tragedy unfolded, it was weaponised to boost anti-EU and anti-migrant agendas online

Spanish soldiers escort migrants back to the Moroccan border past a resident at a bus stop in Ceuta. While the arrival of so many people was an issue, a wave of social media posts omitted to mention that most of the migrants returned to Morocco within days. Picture: Bernat Armangue/AP

It's a tragedy that happened twice. The first question was obvious: How did tens of thousands of people reach one of Europe’s most heavily fortified borders in little more than a day? The second was asked far less often: Why does Spain have a border in Africa at all? 

The events in Ceuta were extraordinary.