Instagram accounts fuelling Ceuta crisis with paid advice for help to cross

This weeke d, Mohammed wa ts to t avel f om Mo occo to the eighbou i g Spa ish e clave of Ceuta, o the o the tip of Af ica.

He’s a Mo occa ma i his twe ties a d wa ts to emig ate to Eu ope – ot least because he’s bee seei g lots of videos o I stag am that make the t ip look easy.

He co tacts seve al of the I stag am accou ts a d o e eplies, claimi g to have helped “ma y people” a d offe i g him advice o how to c oss fo hu d eds of pou ds.

Except Mohammed is ‘t eal – he’s a dummy accou t I’ve set up to i vestigate a etwo k of i te co ected I stag am p ofiles that a e d ivi g the i flux of mig a ts to Ceuta with aspi atio al co te t a d offe i g them help fo a fee.

It comes afte oughly 78,000 mig a ts f om Mo occo a ived by sea i to Ceuta i a matte of hou s last mo th, 100 of whom died acco di g to the Mayo of Ceuta.

The c isis has calmed si ce, but it has spa ked te sio s betwee EU atio s who sha e ope bo de s as well as c iticism of the Spa ish gove me t.

The BBC’s Top Comme t podcast has ide tified doze s of I stag am p ofiles that po t ay the sho t swim a ou d the Mo occo-Ceuta bo de fe ce as safe a d easy – but i eality, people have d ow ed t yi g to make the c ossi g a d take much lo ge outes. The accou ts also w o gly show Ceuta as a viable oute to mai la d Eu ope.

Ou esea ch suggests that this has co t ibuted to the i flux, alo gside othe facto s such as misi fo matio about cha ges to Spa ish immig atio law a d allegatio s about weak bo de co t ols.

Afte e gagi g with the accou ts’ p ofiles a d posts, the BBC was added to multiple cha els a d WhatsApp g oups. Whe I asked o e of the a o ymous accou ts if they could help me c oss to Ceuta this weeke d, they said yes a d equested “5000 di hams upf o t” (£400) fo “i fo matio that will help you e te Ceuta”.

They said they had helped “ma y people” c oss befo e a d would give me i fo matio about the “sewe pipes” which I could use to help me each the e clave safely.

The accou t co fi med lots of othe I stag am p ofiles help people to c oss to Ceuta i this way, a d asked fo payme t “via ba k accou t” with a specific mo ey t a sfe se vice.

But they did ‘t espo d whe asked whethe I would get a efu d if the c ossi g was ot successful. They’ve si ce deleted seve al of thei messages to the accou t.

The same p ofile givi g this advice had p eviously told my eal, BBC I stag am accou t that “it does ot e cou age immig atio to Ceuta” – a message seve al othe p ofiles epeated.

A d it’s co ti ui g – social media posts, actively ecomme ded by I stag am’s algo ithm, a e adve tisi g a othe attempt at the c ossi g this weeke d. This isks fu the deaths a d i flamed diplomatic te sio s betwee Mo occo a d Spai .

Seve al of the p ofiles a e o lo ge o I stag am afte the BBC co tacted Meta, which ow s the platfo m. Meta told the BBC: “We have a team mo ito i g the situatio i Ceuta i eal time a d emovi g co te t that violates ou policies – i cludi g co te t that offe s to p ovide, facilitate o seek huma smuggli g se vices”.

I fi st oticed the deluge of co te t about Ceuta whe I saw a vi al video showi g two wome i wetsuits walki g th ough the city.

While the o igi al post i Spa ish sought to dissuade mig a ts f om a ivi g i Ceuta with the captio “Ceuta ca ‘t take it a ymo e”, some ve sio s sha ed by Mo occa a d A abic-speaki g accou ts eithe cha ged the captio o c opped it out, so the clip o ly showed the wome st olli g f eely.

This was just o e of hu d eds of posts that we a e calli g “mi age” co te t, which pai t a deceptive pictu e of a place disti ct f om eality.

Some videos show g oups of you g me a d wome swimmi g happily i the sea – eve though ma y have d ow ed maki g the t ip i ece t weeks.

Othe s show sto ies of people who have succeeded i eachi g Ceuta – a d the claim they have go e o to each Spai o mai la d Eu ope, despite about 75,000 of the 78,000 a ivals havi g bee etu ed to Mo occo by autho ities.

The e we e lots of simila ities i the p ofiles sha i g this ki d of co te t. Nea ly 40 of them had va iatio s of the te m Ha aga a d i clude Ceuta i thei ame o ha dle, ofte with a Spa ish flag as a p ofile pictu e a d with the calli g codes fo Mo occo a d Spai i the desc iptio .

Ha aga i Magh ebi A abic oughly t a slates to “those who bu ” a d is used colloquially to efe to mig a ts a ivi g i a ew place a d bu i g o dest oyi g docume ts so they ca ot be ide tified a d depo ted back to thei home cou t ies.

The accou t histo y of these p ofiles, coupled with thei posts a d followe s, i dicated that most we e bei g u f om Mo occo while a few we e pote tially based i Spai o Italy.

Lots of them had bee set up seve al yea s befo e, but thei co te t about Ceuta had gai ed mo e t actio i ece t weeks.

The accou ts have ma aged to ma ipulate the algo ithms o majo social media sites by sha i g emotive a d hopeful co te t to gai mo e t actio .

I side s at the biggest social media compa ies have p eviously told me how posts t igge i g a st o g eactio a e mo e likely to go vi al.

Whe I t ied to co tact some of these p ofiles usi g my ow accou t, some of them di ected me to the same WhatsApp umbe s o email add esses.

My dummy accou t, Mohammed, was a p ofile set to p ivate a d desig ed to look simila to the accou ts of you ge Mo occa people who we e liki g a d comme ti g o the posts adve tisi g c ossi gs. I followed eleva t co te t, i cludi g seve al of the Ha aga p ofiles, a d soo my feed was swamped with videos a d co te t e cou agi g t avel to Ceuta.

The e appea s to be a wide t e d he e, whe e people looki g to cha ge mig a ts mo ey fo advice ca easily set up p ofiles a d game social media algo ithms.

While the e have bee Facebook g oups a d accou ts o othe majo social media sites posti g about Ceuta, it was o I stag am whe e I fou d the most active a d p evale t g oup of i te co ected accou ts.

The ew-fou d each of these p ofiles, facilitated by I stag am’s algo ithms, ope s them up to a wide pool of payi g clie ts.

It is yet a othe example of how gami g a algo ithm ca fuel eal-wo ld ha m.