How Disinformation, Foreign Influence and Media Control Shape Politics and Security – TruthAfrica Monitor
From Ceuta to the Sahel and Central Africa, disinformation, Russian influence operations and pressure on independent media show how information intersects with politics and security.
A rumour can move people across a border, a local media outlet can carry a foreign influence operation, and pressure on journalists can reshape what the public is able to see. The cases examined here show how these dynamics unfold across very different political and security contexts. In Ceuta, misleading migration-related content contributed to real-world mobilisation. In Central Africa, Russian influence operations extend beyond official media to local intermediaries and African media outlets, while independent media in AES states face growing pressure and a shrinking information space. In Angola, individuals allegedly linked to a Russian influence network appear in a case involving allegations of interference in domestic politics. Together, these examples show how the information environment can shape not only the interpretation of events, but also political behaviour, public debate and security.
Ceuta: When disinformation becomes a migration factor
The crisis in Ceuta shows that migration-related disinformation can shape not only public debate, but also people’s behaviour. Reuters and AP described how online rumours suggesting that migrants could remain in Spain after reaching Ceuta, together with content showing successful border crossings, encouraged others to attempt the journey. DW highlighted misleading claims about Spanish migration law, while Spain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stressed that the court ruling cited online had not changed immigration law. These messages fed into genuine economic hardship and networks facilitating irregular crossings, showing that disinformation does not need to create a crisis from scratch to intensify it.
For Europe, Ceuta is an example of how an information environment beyond the EU’s borders can quickly translate into pressure at its external frontier. The challenge therefore goes beyond fact-checking. It also requires monitoring content capable of triggering real-world mobilisation, as well as co-operation with neighbouring states and digital platforms. After the crisis, the EU opened talks with Meta and TikTok on greater vigilance towards similar content, while Spain monitored new social media calls for mass border crossings.
Ceuta therefore shows how migration-related disinformation can become not only a communication problem, but also part of EU border security.
Ceuta: From a migration crisis to a geopolitical battle over the narrative
After the mass border crossings into Ceuta, the debate quickly shifted from what had happened to who was responsible and who might be seeking to exploit the crisis politically. Africanews reported speculation that Morocco may have deliberately eased border controls, potentially as a signal to Spain over Western Sahara, while also stressing that there was no evidence that authorities in Rabat had ordered security measures to be relaxed. At the same time, EU interior ministers raised concerns about foreign “information interference”: according to the French interior minister, foreign states were using images from Ceuta to criticise EU migration policy and deepen divisions within the Union.
Russian state-backed media incorporated the crisis into a much broader narrative about Western weakness and hypocrisy. Sputnik portrayed Ceuta as a “colonial border” and a symbol of inequality, and also published claims that the United States and Israel had exploited the crisis to politically target Pedro Sánchez’s government. For Europe, the key issue therefore goes beyond whether there was coordinated interference.
The uncertainty surrounding the causes of the crisis itself creates opportunities for migration to be used to undermine the EU’s credibility, portray European borders as remnants of colonialism, and amplify divisions among Western states. This becomes particularly important when the EU itself acknowledges that excessive dependence on neighbouring countries for border control increases its vulnerability to political and economic pressure.