The deception claims and theories circulated online after Spain, Portugal and certain parts of the south of France were struck by an unprecedented power failure on Monday.
Some of these false affirmations have been amplified in the consumer media, causing confusion and not founded speculation about the cause of the power failure, which left passengers blocked in trains and elevators, and forced companies to close their doors.
Addressing the country, the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said that these crisis situations established “the perfect conditions for disinformation and hoax”, urging people “not to disseminate information from questionable sources”.
Euroverify the verifications of the facts Certain of the not founded reports.
No evidence, the power failure was caused by a cyber attack
We have identified a series of complaints according to which the European energy network had undergone a cyber attack in the hands of Russia,, Morocco Or North Korea. Other false theories have suggested a terrorist attack.
The National Cryptology Center (INSED) of Spain – which is affiliated with its National Intelligence Center (CNI) – initially investigated the possibility of a cyber attack on Monday while the Spanish Prime Minister said that all possible causes would be studied.
But Tuesday, the operator of the Spanish state grid, Red Eléctrica, rejected the possibility of a cyber attack, a human error or a meteorological phenomenon.
The operator reported that the probable cause was a sudden disconnection between two electricity production factories in the southwest of the Iberian peninsula.
A Portuguese government spokesperson has also excluded a cyber attack as a potential cause, citing “a problem in the power transmission network” in Spain.
EU sources have also moved away from the speculation of a cyber attack. Addressing journalists outside the European Parliament in Brussels on Monday, the vice-president of the European Commission, Teresa Ribera, said “nothing allows us to confirm that there has been a kind of boycott or cyberattack”.
Ursula von der Leyen did not accuse Russia
Shortly after the power failure struck the Spanish time (11:33 Portuguese time) on Monday, a false story began to circulate by saying that the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen had accused Russia of a “cyber attack”.
The chief spokesperson for the commission, Paula Pinho, quickly fell the claims claiming that “the declaration broadcast in the press does not come from the president”.
Speaking on Tuesday, Pinho said that the episode had shown “how far the manipulation of information can go”.
The anti-system politician Alvise Pérez, elected member of the European Parliament (MEP) last year, was one of the managers of broadcasting the declaration of false.
On his telegram channel, Alvise posted: “According to CNN, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said in a press conference that it is a direct attack on European sovereignty '', signaling Russia.”
ADVERTISEMENTVon der Leyen did not appear during the said press conference on Monday, and she statement Released on social networks does not speculate in any way on the cause of the failure.
The operator of the Portuguese grid denies blame “a rare atmospheric phenomenon”
Several media – including Reuters, CNN and The Guardian – reported on Monday that the operator of the Portugal grid, renovated Energeticas Nacionais (Ren), said in a statement that a “rare atmospheric phenomenon” was at the massive release.
According to the reported declaration, the oscillations in the very high voltage lines (400 kV), a phenomenon called “induced atmospheric vibration”, would have caused “defaults of synchronization between electrical systems”.
The statements were reproduced by Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro, who said on Monday that the question “came from Spain”.
ADVERTISEMENTBut Ren later said that he had not published such a statement, which prompted Reuters and other major media to rectify their reports.
“Ren confirms that we did not publish this statement,” REN spokesman Bruno Silva said on Tuesday.
No proof of “concealment”
The far -right party of Spain, Vox, accused the Spanish government on Tuesday hiding the causes of the power failure.
Speaking at the Spanish Congress, the Party parliamentary spokesperson, Pepa Millán, said that the government and the operator of the grid “know perfectly what happened and that he did not want to say it (…) because the government is the only responsible.”
ADVERTISEMENTThe interior Spanish mine, Fernando Grande-Marlaka, retaliated by saying that the Spanish government was “transparent” in the information it has provided.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said on Tuesday that his government would request an “independent investigation” to determine the causes of the breakdown. He also refused to exclude all hypothoses, including that of a cyber attack.
The High Court of Spain, the Audencia Nacional, also investigates whether the breakdown could have been caused by a “computer sabotage on Spanish critical infrastructure”.
