The Spanish Observatory for Racism and Xenophobia, OBERAXE, documented a dramatic rise in hate speech on social media, following an assault on a sixty-eight-year-old man in Torre Pacheco, Murcia. From the sixth to the twenty-second of July, messages proliferated from six thousand eight hundred and twenty-four to thirty-three thousand and forty-six, marking an increase of over three hundred and eighty-four percent. The report highlights that merely twenty-two percent of these hate messages were removed by social media platforms.

The report underscores how the incident triggered significant online activity, with a peak of thirty-three thousand and forty-six messages on the twelfth of July correlating with widespread media coverage and a local protest. While the following days saw a reduction in hate speech, the overall levels remained higher than before the incident. A pattern emerged showing continued hostility aimed particularly at individuals from North Africa, constituting ninety-one percent of hate speech.

In addition, the report details the nature of the hateful content, revealing that harmful messages often depicted individuals from North Africa as threats and linked them with violence. The pervasive use of aggressive language aimed at stigmatising these communities suggests the potential for real-world implications, creating an atmosphere of fear and polarisation.

OBERAXE also warned of the role of misinformation in inflating tensions, referencing viral disinformation that falsely connected unrelated violence to the incident. The spread of such content poses a serious challenge to societal cohesion and highlights the urgent need for responsible management of hate speech across social media platforms.