Almost two weeks since an enormous breakdown of paralyzed current the Iberian peninsula, unfounded complaints and conspiracy theories continue to compensate online.
These are fed by the lack of official confirmation of the cause of the failure, which, according to the Spanish government, will take “three to six months” to determine.
The governments of Madrid and Lisbon conduct their own investigations, while an independent investigation will also be led by a group of experts European level.
The Spanish grid operator, Red Eléctrica, reported that the probable cause was two consecutive “disconnection events”, barely 1.5 seconds apart, in energy production factories in southwest Spain.
But the theory has not yet been corroborated and the exact cause of these events has not been determined.
Eurovenerier already demystified Viral allegations of a cyber attack, of a “rare atmospheric phenomenon” or of a concealment led by the government in the hours which followed the power cut.
But a tour of false theories still circulates and coordinated disinformation actors take advantage of the current speculation to sow additional confusion.
No, the Telegraph and France 24 have not linked the breakdown of the sanctions against Russia
A falsified article supposed to come from the British newspaper The Independent circulated on Telegram, saying that the power failure was a “consequence of European sanctions against Russia”.
Another falsified video bearing the brand of the France 24 broadcaster makes the same unfounded claims.
These trafficked reports claim that European networks have been equipped with Polish equipment unable to resist the “level of load on electrical networks” due to sanctions against Moscow.
“Even if the replacement with Russian equipment begins immediately, it will be technically impossible to replace the systems by the end of the year”, according to the Fance France 24 video, adding that this means that several regions of France will be “cut from the power supply to 2025.”
There is no evidence to support these claims.
The Ukrainian counter-information center, a government agency, affirms that actors of pro-Russian disinformation are at the origin of the false complaint.
“The objective of this disinformation is to create the impression that sanctions against Russia are ineffective and only harm by EU countries – aimed at weakening European support for Ukraine”, the agency said.
Many accounts broadcasting the false complaint on platforms such as Telegram, Facebook and X are linked to known Russian disinformation networks.
ADVERTISEMENTThe factors for the Spanish news agency EFE working with the antiBOT4NAVALNY associations have draw the campaign to Pro-Moscow operations such as Matrioska and Pravda.
CLaims Blackout was caused by the solar rocket is not founded
Other social media users have allegedly alleged that the Spanish, Portuguese and French authorities blamed the current failure of “Solar Flare Activity”, that is to say when an intense magnetic energy is released from the surface of the sun.
A Publish The difference in the complaint has been considered almost two million times.
But no government or official source of one of the three countries affected by the power failure has reported a solar flame, and no solar evacuation activity was detected on the day of the power outage according to the weather prediction center in the United States.
ADVERTISEMENTA more in -depth examination of the video shared with unfounded allegations reveals that it shows a solar escape activity recorded on May 10, 2024.
Pillage reports after black by irregular migrants are also false.
The statements circulating online according to which the Spanish army was deployed to prevent “irregular migrants” from looting the day of the power outage is also false.
A YouTube video that is formatted as a reporting falsely alleys that an overwhelming wave of migrants had looted supermarkets, pharmacies and small businesses in Spanish cities, which caused a military response.
ADVERTISEMENTThese reports are completely unfounded and the report films unrelated stocks and videos generated by AI.
There is no evidence suggesting that there was a looting in the aftermath of the power failure. The morning of April 29, the day after the breakdown, the Interior Ministry of Spain said that the previous night had been “calm” with “no significant security incident”.
No evidence of intentional sabotage
There is also no evidence to support the viral affirmations that the power failure was the result of a sabotage act.
Some social users have suggested – without providing proof – that nuclear energy companies could have intentionally caused the power outage in order to show the fragility of the network and encourage the Spanish government to reconsider its planned nuclear energy elimination, which is considered to have a stabilizing impact on electricity networks.
ADVERTISEMENTA X post The sharing of the unfounded complaint has been considered more than 250,000 times.
Other theories circulating online have blamed an intentional act of sabotage in the hands of Russia, France, Morocco or a terrorist organization without any evidence to support these complaints, as before verified by Eurovenife.
