On Meta’s Facebook and Instagram platforms, journalists have discovered tips for migrants seeking to reach Europe.
Today, social media has become a major digital tool for global migration flows. For millions of people, Facebook, Instagram, X and messaging apps serve more than just as means of communication; they are the primary tools for planning their move. Using these platforms, migrants find logistical routes, organise themselves into groups, share maps and receive “first-hand” advice.
Social media platforms have started displaying warnings to users searching for information on mass migration, including queries relating to Ceuta. Journalists discovered that one post contained the advice “be careful when searching for migration info,” as well as a prominent link offering “help with moving to a new country.”
Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin posted a series of screenshots of a pop-up window on Instagram, stating: “Meta has a brand new message warning you to ‘be careful’ when you search for news related to mass migration, such as Ceuta, on Instagram/Facebook.” Melugin added that these pop-up windows “includes a ‘get migration info’ button that offers migrants ‘help with moving to a new country.’ This then directs potential migrants to a UN website with links to information for asylum seekers, as well as a UN app that describes itself as ’empowering migrants.'”
Going to the link takes users to a page on Meta’s help centre entitled “Help is available if you want to move to a new country,” set up in partnership with experts from the IOM and the OSCE. The platform directs users to legal migration routes that are compliant with the requirements of countries of origin, transit and destination. Meanwhile, illegal routes are described as extremely dangerous, carrying the risk of violence, abuse and exploitation.
However, at the same time, the programme’s data fuels mass immigration to Europe and North America. Although the programme often refers users to legal migration channels, this nonetheless poses a significantly greater demographic threat than illegal channels. In the meantime, many view this not as as support for legal migration, but as aiding and abetting the channelling of migrants – including those researching or considering illegal routes – towards UN agencies that support asylum claims and the empowerment of migrants.
Another journalist, Dan Lyman, said that “journalists in Europe have noticed this ‘guide’ whilst searching for ‘Ceuta’ on Instagram,” adding that one reporter told him that “It’s a guidebook to migration when people are searching for illegal immigration.”
Among other contentious issues is the MigApp mobile application. The app appears to have played a significant role in the crisis in Ceuta, when tens of thousands of people attempted to enter the Spanish enclave by breaching the border. This happened after many migrants subsequently said that they had been prompted to head for the border by various Facebook posts claiming that Spain had opened its borders.
