Several viral posts on Instagram, TikTok and other platforms helped mobilize the recent wave of migration from Morocco to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta.

Moustafa Ayad, ISD’s Executive Director for Africa, the Middle East and Asia, spoke to the CBC about this crisis, describing it as a stark illustration of how misinformation and manipulation can have “real-world impact” when amplified across online communities and directed at people desperate for answers.

Moustafa explained that for young people in Morocco, who are facing high unemployment and a lack of political agency, the surge of migration-related messaging is “going to read like ‘now is the time.’”

The full article is available on CBC.