Argentine-Linked Network Pushes False Moroccan Migration Narrative in Brazil

Agadir – An Argentine-linked network has promoted a false narrative claiming that a large wave of Moroccan immigrants was arriving in Brazil’s Santa Catarina state as a result of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s immigration policies, according to Brazil’s Lupa Observatory.

Between August 21 and 27, Lupa identified at least 13,400 mentions of the narrative across social media platforms and websites. Around 11,000 of the posts were in Spanish and 2,000 in Portuguese, with most of the discussion originating among Argentine users. 

The accounts involved in spreading the narrative were mainly based in Argentina, Brazil, and the United States, according to Lupa’s analysis using the Meltwater Explore monitoring platform.

The false narrative began gaining traction on August 25 following an article published by Argentine outlet La Derecha Diario claiming that the arrival of Moroccan immigrants in Santa Catarina had surged. 

Lupa found that the report distorted an August 19 article by Brazilian outlet g1 about 50 Moroccan immigrants who had received assistance from the Catholic organization Missão Scalabrini in Florianópolis over three months.

The original g1 report did not link the Moroccan immigrants to any immigration policy adopted by the Lula administration. Lupa also found no evidence in Brazilian media, official government channels, or the channels of Morocco’s Embassy in Brazil supporting the existence of a broader Moroccan immigration wave in Santa Catarina.

The episode reflects how Morocco has become a convenient source for political campaigns and narratives far beyond the country’s borders. 

By invoking Moroccan migration to frame political debates around immigration and border security, the campaign turned Morocco into a political tool in a narrative that had no factual basis. 

Misleading images fuel the narrative

The campaign also relied on images unrelated to Santa Catarina.

One of the most widely circulated photographs showed a large group of migrants near the sea and a boat. Lupa traced the image to Ceuta, where it was taken by photographer Antonio Sempere for the Associated Press. The photograph had been published in connection with the migration crisis in Ceuta in late July.

Other posts used photographs of migrants in boats that were also unrelated to the alleged events in Santa Catarina. Lupa identified one such image as having circulated online since at least July 28, while another had originally been published by The Times of Israel in 2015.

The organization concluded that the alleged Moroccan “wave” has no factual basis and that the campaign combined a real report about 50 Moroccan migrants receiving assistance in Florianópolis with misleading claims and decontextualized images.

Read also: Morocco Becomes Free Material for Spain’s Political Campaigns Amid Ceuta Crisis