An audio “forwarded many times,” an unknown author, and a distorted truth turning into a lie: that’s how the hoaxes that spread through WhatsApp like wildfire, creating misinformation among those who listen to them, begin. And in this way, an audio about the arrest of two individuals in Tenerife in a nationwide operation against jihadist propaganda has been distributed.
On June 11, two people were arrested by the Civil Guard in Los Realejos for promoting jihadist propaganda. This operation led the authorities to arrest nine people nationwide: besides Tenerife, seven others were also located in Girona, Almería, and Cádiz. This operation has led to the spread of misinformation about the activities carried out in Los Realejos.
Several audios with inaccurate data about the event are circulating, but one radicalises the message more than any other. It starts with “we found out through a police friend,” something that seems to give the audio greater credibility. In it, the sender claims that “the guys were making bombs here. (…) They had a van loaded with explosives in Los Realejos. Apparently, they intended to attack shopping centres here and in Las Palmas, as well as schools.”
False Information
According to the Government Delegation in Canarias, this information is completely false. In the audio itself, they criticise the media and the government because, supposedly, “that doesn’t come out in the media, they must be sons of b*tches.”
This operation against jihadist propaganda has led various sectors of society to take advantage of the moment of tension and send out this type of completely biased message. In a political moment where the rise of the far-right is becoming increasingly evident at a European level, hoaxes of this kind continue to appear and spread through social networks unstoppably.
From information gathered by THE PROVINCE, the operation carried out in different parts of Spain, including Los Realejos, has nothing to do with the manufacture of explosives. Furthermore, there was no threat of a possible attack against any facility on Canary soil.
