The Critical Risk of Disinformation for Humanitarians - The Case of the MV Aquarius
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The Critical Risk of Disinformation for
Humanitarians – The Case of the MV
Aquarius
Sean Healy
Head of Reflection and Analysis, Médecins Sans Frontières Operational Centre Amsterdam; sean.healy@amsterdam.msf.org
Victoria Russell
Communications Adviser, Médecins Sans Frontières Operational Centre Amsterdam; victoria.russell@amsterdam.msf.org
Abstract
The search and rescue of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants on the Mediterranean has become a site of major
political contestation in Europe, on the seas, in parliaments and government offices and in online public opinion.
This article summarises one particular set of controversies, namely, false claims that the non-government
organisations conducting such search and rescue operations are actively ‘colluding’ with people smugglers to
ferry people into Europe. In spring and summer 2017, these claims of ‘collusion’ emerged from state agencies
and from anti-immigration groups, became viral on social media platforms and rapidly moved into mainstream
media coverage, criminal investigations by prosecutors and the speech and laws of politicians across the
continent. These claims were in turn connected to far-right conspiracy theories about ‘flooding’ Europe with
‘invaders’. By looking at the experience of one particular ship, the MV Aquarius, run in partnership by MSF and
SOS Méditerranée, the authors detail the risks that humanitarian organisations now face from such types of
disinformation campaign. If humanitarian organisations do not prepare themselves against this risk, they will find
themselves in a world turned upside-down, in which their efforts to help people in distress become evidence of
criminal activity.
Keywords: disinformation, conspiracy theory, search and rescue, refugees, Mediterranean, criminalisation, social
media, far right, Médecins Sans Frontières, SOS Méditerranée
Introduction homelands’ (statement by Defend Europe, quoted in
Holthouse, 2017). From December 2016, this conspiracy
This is the story of a meeting between a humanitarian theory spread from the far-right anti-immigrant fringes,
operation and a conspiracy theory, and what happened was bolstered by the statements of the European border
next. The operation was a search and rescue mission run control agency Frontex, caught fire on social media, was
on the Mediterranean by many different non-govern- then repeated by major media outlets, politicians and
mental organisations (NGOs), including Médecins Sans prosecutors, and eventually became policy of the then-
Frontières,1 aiming to save the lives of migrants, refugees government of Italy, under Interior Minister Matteo
and asylum seekers lost at sea. The conspiracy theory2 Salvini. It achieved its moment of (temporary) victory in
was that this operation was the opposite of what it 2018 with the closing of Italian ports to NGO vessels and
seemed: that it was actually a plot in which search and the halting of search and rescue operations by NGOs on
rescue organisations were actively and directly colluding the Mediterranean. The collision of these two wildly
with people smugglers to ferry ‘migrants’ from Libya to different points of view provoked significant political
Europe. And even that this was only part of a deeper plot and humanitarian consequences across Europe.
to ‘invade’ and ‘flood’ the continent and make ‘we There is, of course, nothing new about disinformation,
Europeans … a minority in our own European or its use in conflict and crisis, or its implication of
28
Journal of Humanitarian Affairs Volume 3, No. 1 (2021), 28–39 © The authors
http://dx.doi.org/10.7227/JHA.056
This is an Open Access article published under the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence
https://creativecommons.org/licences/by-nc-nd/4.0
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via free accesshumanitarians. The aphorism, ‘In war, the first casualty
The Critical Risk of Disinformation for Humanitarians
rescue operations, all prompted into doing so by two
is truth’, goes back to World War I, or perhaps horrific shipwrecks in April 2015 in which 1200 asylum
Aeschylus. Throughout their history, humanitarian seekers drowned (Heller and Pezzani, 2016).
actors have worked in many conflicts deeply marked The MSF adviser replied that NGOs were in no way
not only by the clash of metal and bodies, but also by the colluding with people smugglers but were rather simply
din of conflicting words, claims and narratives. But the doing their job of saving lives – and that perhaps Frontex
forms that this disinformation has taken have constantly might be better off doing the same (Ponthieu, 2016). This
changed as technology has changed, from printing exchange between MSF and Frontex, in public and via
presses to wireless and TV and now to social media. the media, and later also in private, was not the first such
The rapid growth in internet penetration and social dispute, but it would prove to be the opening salvo in a
media usage worldwide has made it easier and quicker to two-year-long propaganda campaign.
access and share vast quantities of news, information and
entertainment – and this has proved fertile ground for all The Claims
kinds of political propaganda, conspiracy theories, Opponents of dedicated search and rescue (SAR)
disinformation campaigns and hybrid warfare. missions in the Mediterranean had long criticised such
This case of the MV Aquarius highlights the increas- efforts for being a ‘pull factor encouraging more
ingly dangerous environment that humanitarians are migrants to attempt the dangerous sea’ (House of
now operating in in the early twenty-first century: Lords, 2016)3 or a ‘magnet’ (Farrell, 2014) or a ‘bridge’
meaning not the Mediterranean, but the emerging (Anetzberger, 2014) for migrants, refugees and asylum
information space. If humanitarian organisations do seekers. Before the arrival of NGO vessels, this same
not ready themselves for this space, they will find claim had been made against naval SAR operations such
themselves in a world turned upside-down, in which as Mare Nostrum.4
their principles have no meaning, in which suffering is Naval and NGO rescuers and their supporters have, in
the fault of those suffering and the responsibility of no- reply, argued that the numbers of people attempting the
one, and in which their efforts to help people in distress Central Mediterranean route is largely driven by ‘push
become evidence of criminal activity. factors’ such as conflict in the countries of origin,
violence in Libya, the closure of other routes and lack
The Case of the MV Aquarius of safe and legal pathways. The principal effect of
reduced SAR resources, they have claimed, is not
reduced numbers of people attempting the journey, but
It Begins
an increased risk of death.
On 13 December 2016, a humanitarian adviser at MSF in For example, MSF conducted its own research
Brussels received a call from the correspondent of the (Arsenijevic et al., 2017) into this claim of a ‘pull
Financial Times. He wanted to know if MSF had any factor’ which compared the trends in attempted sea
comment on a report he had received confidentially from crossings and adverse sea outcomes over three time
within the European border agency, Frontex. With a periods: during Operation Mare Nostrum (dedicated
headline alleging that search and rescue organisations on SAR mission but no NGO presence), during the period
the Mediterranean were actively colluding with people of Operation Triton5 but before the start of NGO
smugglers, the eventual article read: operations, and following the start of NGO SAR
missions. It found that there were only 1.6 per cent
Frontex put its concerns in a confidential report last
more attempted crossings in the period of NGO
month, raising the idea that migrants had been given ‘clear
involvement than during the period of Triton-only
indications before departure on the precise direction to be
followed in order to reach the NGOs’ boats’. SAR resources. It also found a reduction in adverse sea
outcomes (deaths and missing) from 39/1000 attempted
The agency made the accusation explicitly in another
crossings to 16/1000. Other analyses by different
report last week, which stated: ‘First reported case where
the criminal networks were smuggling migrants directly on researchers (Steinhilper and Gruijters, 2017; Villa,
an NGO vessel’. (Robinson, 2016) 2020) have reached broadly similar conclusions. The
commanders of the naval missions have argued likewise,
At that point, MSF had been running search and such as Operation Sophia’s commander, Admiral Enrico
rescue operations since mid 2015, with three ships then Credendino (quoted in Floris and Bagnoli, 2017).
operational on the Mediterranean: the Bourbon Argos, The claim of ‘collusion’, however, made in the
the Dignity I and the Aquarius, the latter run in confidential Frontex report and carried by the Financial
partnership with SOS Méditerranée (Figure 1). The Times, was an escalation. A ‘pull factor’ might operate
organisation was only one of many running such despite the intentions of the rescuers and be simply the 29
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via free accessJournal of Humanitarian Affairs (2021) 3/1
Figure 1: MSF search and rescue operations – overview
Source: MSF, http://searchandrescue.msf.org/ (accessed 28 March 2021).
unfortunate side-effect of a well-meaning endeavour. Maritime Traffic website, with the daily arrival figures
‘Collusion with people smugglers’, ‘trafficking’ and from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. The
‘being complicit’ implies criminal intent on the part of video comprised a wordless time-lapse on a map of
the rescuers. It implies a conspiracy. search and rescue vessels starting close to Libya and
finishing in Italy. The report and video presented the
The Conspiracies existence of legal and coordinated rescue operations
from outside Libyan territorial waters as ‘evidence’ of an
The ‘first reported case’ cited by Frontex (2016) ‘illegal human traffic operation’. The report and video
concerned an incident in which a small Libyan-flagged then concluded that more asylum seekers, refugees and
fishing boat handed two individuals to a rescue vessel, migrants would ‘undermine Europe’s stability raising
the Minden. The Frontex report claimed that this fishing racially motivated social tensions’.
boat contained people smugglers, and that the incident
was evidence of ‘smuggling migrants directly on an NGO
Going Viral
maritime vessel’. Meanwhile, when sought for his side of
the story, the captain of the Minden claimed that the boat The Gefira reports and video were reblogged by several
appeared to be ‘engine fishers’, locals who often appear far-right, Islamophobic and conspiracist websites, such
around rescues to salvage the engines from stranded as Infowars and Zerohedge, in English and in Italian and
vessels (Campbell, 2017). began circulating among such audiences. These sources
Two other accusations originated from a right-wing anti- connected the alleged collusion between smugglers and
immigrant foundation in the Netherlands called Gefira rescuers to much larger themes, in particular to the idea
(Pellagatta, 2018). A report from the group (Gefira, 2016a) of the ‘Great Replacement’, a white-nationalist con-
claimed to have found proof that, in October 2016, the spiracy theory that claims that powerful institutions in
Italian coastguard authorities and an SAR vessel had Europe are seeking to supplant white people with
foreknowledge of a rescue, showing contact and planning immigrants from the Middle East and Africa
with smugglers. The basis for this was a single tweet by a (Holthouse, 2017). YouTube comments (Gefira, 2016c)
Dutch journalist on board the rescue vessel Golfo Azzurro on it illustrate the extreme conclusions drawn by some of
from 10–12 hours before the rescue occurred. The captain its viewers: ‘When will European people rise up and fight
of the Golfo Azzurro counter-claimed that the notification this before their continent is destroyed? It needs to
and the rescue were two separate events related to two happen soon for the sake of your kids and grandkids
separate vessels (Hopkins, 2017). lives’, ‘All funded by George Soros, the devil in disguise’
A month later, Gefira released another report along and ‘Mass deportations and ethnic cleansing is morally
with a YouTube video (Gefira, 2016b). The article and justified to counter this, and these bleeding heart NGO’s
30 video combined AIS data on ships’ locations from the [sic] will be wholly responsible.’
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via free accessThen, a second video, ‘La verità sui MIGRANTI’ banner reading ‘No way for human trafficking’. The
The Critical Risk of Disinformation for Humanitarians
(Donadel, 2017), was uploaded to YouTube in March action was live-streamed on Periscope, shown on
2017 by a 23-year-old Italian right-wing activist and YouTube6 and attracted considerable social media
vlogger Luca Donadel. It used a similar methodology as attention (Broderick, 2017). The campaign was called
the earlier Gefira video, including tracing the routes of ‘Defend Europe’ and the group behind it was Génération
rescue vessels on a map from close to Libya back to Italy. Identitaire, a European white-nationalist group. They
But this was produced in a more engaging, received support from US far-right social media
sensationalistic and personal style, elements more likely personalities such as Lauren Southern, Breitbart and
to help it become viral. This video is credited as a ‘tipping various neo-Nazi sites, as well as Katie Hopkins
point in a campaign against NGOs’ (Oliveri, 2017), (Holthouse, 2017). The publicity helped the group raise
especially in Italy. It was viewed more than one million $178,000, with which it hired a much larger vessel, the
times within two weeks, and millions more since then. It C-Star, to try again to block the Aquarius.
was shared by politicians including Matteo Salvini, The far-right activists were to discover that mounting
mentioned by major newspapers and shown by an action ‘in real life’ was much harder than online. A
mainstream television outlets in Italy, vastly increasing public backlash led by anti-racist activists pressured
its reach. websites PayPal and Patreon into cutting off their
Over the Easter weekend in 2017, more than 2000 fundraising, the Daily Mail recalled Hopkins, and a
people needed to be rescued trying to cross the series of ports in Suez, Cyprus, Tunisia (where fishermen
Mediterranean by an operation involving the Italian in Zarzis refused to allow the boat entry) and Malta held
coastguard and three NGO vessels, including 1000 by the the boat in custody or banned it from docking altogether.
Aquarius alone (CBC Radio, 2017). Claims that NGOs In Famagusta, Cyprus, authorities found 20 Sri Lankan
were colluding with people smugglers now reached a men on board, who had each paid $12,000 to be
mass audience via the mainstream media, and not only smuggled to Europe; the owner, captain, senior officers
in Italy but throughout Europe by a variety of media plus one of the Génération Identitaire activists were
outlets. Perhaps most prominently, the controversial but arrested and charged with human trafficking. At one
widely followed columnist Katie Hopkins went to Sicily point, they even needed to be rescued themselves, by the
in April 2017 to investigate the story for the Daily Mail, Sea-Eye (Mulhall, 2017). Finally they were forced to
alleging: cancel the mission on 19 August 2017. On land, the
group held protests at commercial entities associated
Right under the noses of the Italian authorities and the EU with search and rescue and, in October 2018, invaded the
border agency, Frontex, a charitable ‘ferry service’ has been Marseilles office of SOS Méditerranée and threatened the
launched, with shiny new boats and sympathetic staff
staff (SOS Méditerranée, 2018).
allegedly colluding with the people smugglers controlling
the migrant trade. (Hopkins, 2017) But these actions certainly proved attention-grabbing,
especially on social media, which became extremely
For evidence of this claim, Hopkins repeated the hostile to rescuers. The Twitter account of the operation,
details of both the incident mentioned by the December @MSF_Sea, was routinely ratio-ed by 100s or 1000s of
2016 confidential Frontex report, and copy-pasted racist and trolling comments. A parody Twitter account
directly, maps and graphs included, from the report by was set up, and its false stories (such as that MSF was
Gefira (2016a) about the October 2016 rescue. She then advocating for the Schengen Agreement area to be
turned to themes of criminality, terrorism and the threat extended to North Africa) were even picked up as fact
of swamping: by media outlets. Allegations were invented and distrib-
uted widely, for example, that MSF’s fundraising had
Italy will not survive this. I do not believe Europe will, suffered a ‘vertical drop’. Other rescuers also suffered from
either – certainly not as the countries they have been for dirty tricks: Proactiva Open Arms revealed in July 2017
centuries. The monster that drove a truck into the that its AIS data had been hacked to falsely show its
Christmas market in Berlin arrived into the EU via boat
position as 1 mile off the Libyan coast (Open Arms, 2017).
to Italy. My fear is that these NGO ‘ferry services’ will
ensure many more monsters to come (Hopkins, 2017). Prosecutors and Politicians
Collusion by rescuers with people smugglers was ‘illegal’
and ‘criminal’, its opponents claimed – and a wide
From Propaganda to Action
variety of politicians and prosecutors sought to make it
On 12 May 2017, as the MV Aquarius was leaving the so. The first and most prominent was the prosecutor of
port of Catania, a small skiff attempted to impede their Catania, Carmelo Zuccaro (Latza Nadeau, 2017), who in
passage, with passengers launching flares and unveiling a March 2017 announced: ‘We have evidence that there 31
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are direct contacts between certain NGOs and people themselves up to massive public criticism and adminis-
traffickers in Libya.’ A month later, he admitted he was trative measures against them, such as vessel seizures and
only raising a ‘hypothesis’ about phone calls and had no closure of ports. Division between the larger, ‘moderate’
proof he could present to a court (Scherer, 2017). The NGOs and the smaller, ‘radical’ ones also might have
truthfulness or falsity of the allegations was irrelevant to been an aim, as it was certainly highlighted in the media
its spread; indeed, very little eventuated from this inquiry coverage.
in terms of legal proceedings, but the accusations were Troubled by this code of conduct, MSF first sought
widely publicised and lent great legitimacy to the consultations with the Italian government to clarify their
mounting campaign against the rescuers. intent. But the Italian authorities demanded signature
The Trapani prosecutor, Ambrogio Cartosio, within a week of receiving the text. Ultimately, MSF
announced in May 2017 an investigation into the alleged refused to sign the code of conduct, and was greeted with
involvement of individuals in human trafficking and exactly the massive public criticism it feared in the Italian
abetting illegal migration. Two other prosecutors also media for doing so (Galli della Loggia, 2017; Picardi, 2017).
launched inquiries of their own, in Palermo and Cagliari. But its partner on the MV Aquarius, and the charterer of
Several MSF staff were informed they were under the ship, SOS Méditerranée, did sign at a later stage,
investigation, although none have been charged, as were meaning that the vessel did agree to comply with its terms.
staff of Save the Children. The code did not end the issue at all, and seizures of
Similar accusations were made by senior government vessels, searches of premises and legal proceedings
ministers in Belgium (Baczynska, 2017), in Austria started soon after.7 Perhaps the most serious actions
(Die Presse, 2017) and in Germany (Welt, 2017). In were taken in August 2017 against ten staff of the
June 2018, French President Emmanuel Macron accused German NGO Jugend Rettet, including the captain of its
NGOs of ‘playing into the hands’ of people smugglers ship Iuventa, Pia Klemp (Maritime Executive, 2017a).
(RFI, 2018). Those charged face up to 20 years’ imprisonment for
Public hearings were launched in the Italian Senate, conducting operations which saved up to 14,000 people
allowing a high-profile airing of the explanations of the at sea. Police had bugged the vessel and placed
rescuers but also for those accusing them (Heller and informants on other vessels (Boffey and Tondo, 2019).
Pezzani, 2017). The Senate committee’s May 2017 report The charges included specific accusations of collusion
found that there was no evidence of collusion between with people smugglers, namely that on three separate
NGOs and smugglers, but it still called for greater occasions, on 10 September 2016 and twice on 18 June
government control over search and rescue operations, 2017, the crew of the Iuventa had arranged the direct
including the placement of police investigators on board transfer of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers from
vessels (Heller and Pezzani, 2017). smugglers and had then returned the empty boats to the
In July 2017, the centre-left Italian government of smugglers. A report by Forensic Oceanography and
Matteo Renzi took up the recommendations of the Senate Forensic Architecture poured over extensive video
inquiry and began efforts to exert greater control over footage of the rescues turned over by Jugend Rettet and
search and rescue vessels, via a ‘code of conduct’ that they other sources and concluded that there was no evidence
attempted to enforce on NGOs (Human Rights Watch, of communication with the smugglers (Heller and
2017). The code included many stipulations which were
Pezzani, 2018).
already in maritime law and which SAR vessels were
But nearly all SAR actors were affected in various ways
already following, as well as a range of restrictions, over the course of 2017 and 2018:
including preventing rescues from taking place in Libyan
waters altogether, banning the use of lights at night, • The Vos Hestia of Save the Children was searched in
preventing transfers of the rescued while at sea and October 2017 and equipment seized, leading to the
placing police on board vessels. In July, this code of suspension of its operation (Maritime Executive,
conduct was endorsed at an informal meeting of the EU 2017b). Save the Children had signed the code of
Justice and Home Affairs Ministers (HRW, 2017). conduct, showing how little protection it offered.
In the view of those running MSF’s operations, this put • In the same month, the MSF vessel Vos Prudence
NGOs in a situation of ‘damned if you do, and damned if ended its operation (MSF, 2017), partly due to the
you don’t’. Signing and endorsing the code of conduct reduction in departures from Libya and partly due to
would be an admission that NGOs needed regulations the mounting restrictions on operations. (The Vos
and control when in fact all SAR NGO operations Prudence had replaced a previous MSF ship, the
were already being carried out under the coordination of Bourbon Argos, in March 2017.)
the Italian maritime authorities. Those who didn’t • The warehouses and medical stores of MSF in
32 accept, however, would appear intransigent and open Catania were searched in January 2018, with various
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via free accessThe Critical Risk of Disinformation for Humanitarians
allegations of wrong-doing and threatened charges pressure from Italy on the UK government (Budge, 2018).
made against staff. The vessel briefly re-registered as a Panamanian vessel,
• The vessel of Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms but this registration too was withdrawn in September
was seized on the request of the Catania prosecutor in 2018 (Heffron, 2018) under direct pressure from the
March 2018 (although released by a court order a Italian government. After two months of vain attempts to
month later). reflag the ship, SOS Méditerranée and MSF declared
• In November 2018, the Catania prosecutor announced defeat and ended its mission on 6 December 2018. MSF’s
an investigation into MSF for illicit waste disposal on statement (2018) read:
SAR boats, including rescued people’s clothes that it
claimed were highly infectious with diseases such as This is the result of a sustained campaign, spearheaded by
the Italian government and backed by other European
HIV. The Aquarius was ordered impounded and bank
states, to delegitimise, slander and obstruct aid organisa-
accounts were frozen (Tondo, 2018).
tions providing assistance to vulnerable people.
The situation was also worsening on the open seas. The
solution long sought after by European governments was Postscript: The Return of the Rescuers
for the Libyan government to prevent departures at source
Of course, the end of the MV Aquarius’s operation didn’t
– via a ‘cash-for-migration-control strategy’ (Reitano and
end this story, nor did the closure of Italian ports to
Micallef, 2017). On land, this involved armed militias
search and rescue vessels. In Italy, the coalition govern-
closing down the people smuggling business they had
ment between the Five Star Movement and Salvini’s Lega
been deeply involved in, reportedly in exchange for cash
lasted only until August 2019 before collapsing
payments. At sea, this involved financing the Libyan
(Horowitz, 2019). The subsequent election saw not the
coastguard so it could ‘turn back’ boats they found at sea
expected triumph of the far right, but a new coalition
and forcibly return the people intercepted at sea to the
between the Five Star Movement and the Democratic
detention centres. Relations between the NGO vessels and
Party (De Maio, 2019). Salvini faces his own court cases
the Libyan coastguard rapidly deteriorated, including
now – prosecutors in Sicily have charged him with
botched rescues, threats of legal action, shots fired (Sea-
kidnapping over a particular incident involving a ship
Watch, 2017). After July 2017, this policy resulted in a
containing rescued migrants, asylum seekers and refugees
dramatic fall in the number of boat entries into Europe
being held in port, and the Senate has lifted his immunity
from Libya, and the consequent trapping of people in
from prosecution (Pullella, 2020). In August 2020, MSF
Libya (Reitano and Micallef, 2017).
returned to active search and rescue operations, joining
forces with Sea-Watch and providing medical care
Final Act: Salvini, Blockade and Closure aboard the vessel, the Sea-Watch 4 (MSF, 2020). In
The final act in the story of the MV Aquarius occurred after May 2021, MSF launched a new search-and-rescue
the 31 May 2018 Italian election, which was dominated by operation with the vessel Geo Barents (MSF 2021).
the issue of migration. Despite his government’s actions to
close the entry doors to asylum seekers, refugees and Disinformation as a Phenomenon
migrants, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi was heavily
defeated. A new government was formed, led by the This was certainly not the first time that humanitarian
populist Five Star Movement and including the far-right responders have been targeted by a disinformation
Lega, whose leader Matteo Salvini was made interior campaign, nor was it the most serious time, and nor will
minister, and the most prominent figure of the government. it be the last time. Several key points are worth
Salvini moved quickly to close Italy’s ports to NGO highlighting in this analysis.
search and rescue vessels. On 10 June, the MV Aquarius
Mobilisation from Fringes into Mainstream
was returning to port with 630 migrants, refugees and
asylum seekers when it was told that it would be barred In this instance, social media, in particular Twitter,
entry. This sparked a diplomatic stand-off at sea, until Facebook and YouTube, played a central role in convey-
the government of Spain agreed to welcome the ship at ing the various false claims and conspiracy theories from
the port of Valencia, 1300 kilometres away. Himself a their originators, to social media influencers, and then
master of the use of social media, Salvini took to into mainstream media and influential figures in politics
Facebook with the news: ‘VICTORY! 629 migrants on and the law, and finally into official policy in Italy.
board of Aquarius ship, Spain-bound, our first goal has Social media platforms are designed for sharing of
been reached!’ (Nadeau et al., 2018). information through self-selected networks, and do so
On 20 August, Aquarius’s registration under a Gibral- extremely efficiently. Social media has proven to be more
tar flag was officially revoked, reportedly after diplomatic effective at spreading lies than truth, diffusing them 33
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via free access‘significantly farther, faster, deeper, and more broadly’,
Journal of Humanitarian Affairs (2021) 3/1
outlets about the various accusations of anti-immigration
according to Vosoughi et al. (2018), who found that it activists, questions the journalists justified as ‘being
took the truth six times longer to reach 1500 people than impartial’ and ‘presenting the other side of the story’. It
a lie, and that political lies spread more quickly than all mattered less what the truth was.
other categories of information. Part of what powers this
spread is a concept of novelty, in that novel information Overturning Truth and Falsehood
is both more surprising and more valuable to the one Disinformation campaigns often have only loose con-
who possesses it. A further explanation for the more nections to objective fact, and frequently rely on
rapid spread of falsehoods is connected to the emotions it outrageous lies. And yet in the modern age they manage
evokes: not only greater surprise but also greater disgust, to build substantial followings nevertheless, as they tap
while truth more evokes stronger emotions of sadness, into a set of deeper beliefs and concepts of identity which
anticipation, joy and trust. As a result, even ideas which trump ‘truth’.
might once have been considered ‘fringe’ or ‘extreme’ Both the facts and the politics of migration and asylum
can benefit mightily in the current information seeking across the Mediterranean are worthy of public
environment – it significantly increases the amount of discussion and debate. As mentioned, various research-
‘oxygen’ in which such ideas can catch fire and spread ers (e.g. Arsenijevic et al., 2017) have sought to study
(Phillips, 2018). whether search and rescue efforts ‘pull’ people towards
A particularly important role in the spread of the them or not, and hence might be endangering them.
conspiracy theory against SAR vessels was played by a Political contestation is unavoidable when publics across
complex of websites and influencers, mostly connected Europe are as divided as they are about the relative value
to the European and North American far-right move- of securing the continent’s borders from newcomers or
ments: Gefira and Luca Donadel, in the first instance, saving those in need from suffering in Libya or death on
but also widely shared conspiracist websites such as the high seas.
Infowars and personalities such as Lauren Southern.8 At But what we have seen in this case bends any concept
several points, videos, tweets and stories from these of ‘public discussion and debate’ beyond breaking point.
influencers were seen and shared millions of times. This In making accusations of collusion between people
matches other work, such as the analysis done by smugglers and rescuers, political actors advanced a set
Starbird et al. (2018) of the campaign against the of false claims, the factual basis of which was limited to a
Syrian humanitarian group, the ‘White Helmets’, small handful of ambiguous incidents which were then
which highlighted the importance of tight networks of read in a tendentious and biased way, without any
‘alternative media’, most often on the political far right consideration for other explanations. These were then
but also on the left. These sources have grown connected to a set of xenophobic prejudices against
considerably in reach and influence due to record-low migrants, refugees and asylum seekers from Africa and
levels of trust in mainstream media and due to the the Middle East, amalgamated with terrorism fears,
disruption of mainstream media outlets’ production and widespread and growing in Europe, and linked to beliefs
distribution models. YouTube has proven an especially that such people pose a civilisational threat – and so the
effective mechanism for these influencers, as it allows conspiracy theory proved popular even despite its
them to both demonstrate relatability and authenticity falsehood.
while connecting with this ‘counter-cultural’ rejection of There is a deep connection between conspiracy
mainstream media. theories and populist movements, such as Matteo
Finally, once spreading widely in social media, con- Salvini’s Lega in Italy, which also explains part of their
spiracy theories can cross over and find fertile ground in enduring appeal. Conspiracy theories revolve around
the mainstream media as well. This can be via partisan three sets of actors: the conspirators, powerful people
media figures who are supporters of the conspiracy theory who have managed to hide their role; the people, who
in question – such as Hopkins in this case, or Fox News’ have been duped by the conspirators; and the enligh-
Sean Hannity in the case of the campaign against George tened ones who see through the duping to the truth
Soros and the Open Society Foundation (Wemple, 2019). (Gyárfášová et al., 2013). An analysis of conspiratorial
It can also be via the coverage of more impartial and beliefs in three European countries, conducted before the
objective media outlets, which find themselves caught in a 2015 refugee crisis (Gyárfášová et al., 2013: 14), found
trap of whether ‘to report or not to report’ on the claims that ‘[t]hose who think that democracy doesn’t work
made by conspiracists and therefore often end up well, that politicians don’t care about people like them
amplifying them (Phillips, 2018). MSF communications and who trust neither the left nor the right to run the
specialists on board the MV Aquarius attest to being country are far more likely to agree with conspiracist
34 constantly asked by journalists from major networks and statements than others’. This overlaps strongly with the
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via free accessThe Critical Risk of Disinformation for Humanitarians
basis of populist political movements, which similarly which impose duties on states and other actors to value
posit a corrupt, lying and powerful ‘establishment’ and preserve human life.
opposed to the ‘people’ and then a force who will save This disinformation campaign against search and
them, the populists themselves.9 rescuers, as well as others like it elsewhere, can be seen
Finally, there is a deep connection between conspiracy as a rejection by some of that claim – rather, they
theories, populist movements and the targeting of implicitly argue, humanitarian values are not universal.
minorities. Such movements cohere and mobilise sup- In this case, opponents rejected the Law of the Sea,
porters on the basis of identifying an enemy who which require vessels to rescue any person at sea whose
threatens them: ‘Such conspiracy theories name the ship is in danger, and the Refugee Convention, which
enemy and legitimise radical measures taken against mandates that no person can be sent back to a country
them, as well as helping to maintain the collective self- where their lives are in danger – and underneath that,
esteem of the group and satisfying the narcissistic needs they rejected the idea that migrants, refugees and
of the group (‘we are sufficiently important that everyone asylum seekers’ lives are worth saving. Instead, they
is against us’)’ (Krekó, 2011). In present-day Europe, this argued that these lives and these laws were less
is highly visible in conspiracy theories connected to important than their ideal, of a Europe whose borders
migrants and refugees, but also in the revival of anti- are protected from ‘invaders’ from the South. ‘Show me
Semitic and anti-Roma prejudices in countries such as the bodies… I still don’t care’ (Hopkins, quoted in
Hungary. Writing about the utility of conspiracy theories McCarthy, 2015).
in the twentieth century, Serge Moscovici wrote: Further, these disinformation campaigns turn the
tables on the humanitarians, so that the act of saving
Now, in order to accomplish all these persecutions it is not lives itself becomes criminalised. This was clear in this
enough merely to control the police or the judiciary. What case, where accusations of collusion with people smug-
is most necessary is a certain mode of collective thought, glers provided the basis for the seizure of SAR vessels and
which, on the one hand, prepares these persecutions, and,
the arrest and prosecution of captains and crews for
on the other hand, justifies them. It is essential to reach the
conducting rescues at sea.
masses and make them take part in manhunt, as well as in
soulhunt. Assuredly, the principle of conspiracy forms the
substance of this thought. (1987: 153) Conclusions: Prepare Now for New Risks
While the deliberate use of disinformation is mostly The rise of this new type of disinformation campaign
associated with authoritarian regimes, its use is also must be treated as a critical risk, for people in need and
growing in ostensible democracies. Bradshaw and for humanitarian responders. In the Mediterranean, this
Howard (2019) found signs of ‘computational specific disinformation campaign occurred in a specific
propaganda’ and the manipulation of public opinion political context marked by European governments
and social media in over 70 countries in 2019, mostly which were already seeking to restrict asylum seeker
prominent in China, especially in its state response to the entry and to turn public opinion against search and
Hong Kong democracy movement, but also in a wide rescue operations, as well as growing political polarisation
range of both autocracies and democracies. and the rise of populist, authoritarian and racist move-
ments of all kinds – this context meant disinformation
could become a highly effective strategy for some political
Criminalising the Norms of Humanity and
actors. The false accusations made against search and
Those Who Enact Them
rescue providers contributed significantly to a reduction
Disinformation campaigns have been waged not only in the humanitarian space for their operations, by helping
against minorities or vulnerable groups, but also against justify the closure of ports, the seizure of vessels and the
any who help them. In doing so, they have sought to levelling of criminal charges against rescuers.
undermine core humanitarian values, such as the idea In other cases also – in the United States (Achenbach,
that all people’s deaths are grievable and all people’s lives 2018), Myanmar (Mozur, 2018), Syria (Di Giovanni,
are worthy of being saved (Butler, 2020). 2018), among others – disinformation campaigns helped
Humanitarians make a claim that their values are justify the closure of borders to refugees, deliberate
universal ones that bind all people, in particular the value violence against minorities and the lethal targeting of
and dignity attached to all human life (the principle of civilians and those assisting them, among other things. It
humanity) and the ethical duty to help all people without is not difficult to imagine future scenarios elsewhere.
discrimination, based on need alone (the principle of While the risks of disinformation are not new, they
impartiality). Further, humanitarians have worked to have been greatly accelerated and augmented by new
enshrine these universal values into international laws, technologies and the social and political changes they 35
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via free accessJournal of Humanitarian Affairs (2021) 3/1
have wrought. The rapid growth of internet connectivity, movements. In fact, the opposite, as this case shows. But
mobile phone usage and social media has made infor- it still seems to be the best way to both defend ourselves
mation much more accessible and available than ever and to confront those set on dehumanising their targets:
before. This has made social media a critically important we make enemies by doing so, but we also help victims
terrain of political contestation and conflict – and has become survivors, help actors become allies and help
provided new opportunities for authoritarian and popu- bystanders become supporters.
list states and movements (among others) to use these
new technologies to target their opponents, including
humanitarian providers and the people they seek to assist Notes
and protect.
It is very likely that humanitarians will be the target of 1 Médecins Sans Frontières includes five autonomous
further campaigns. MSF’s experience in the field of Operational Centres. The authors both work for the
Mediterranean search and rescue operations, as outlined Operational Centre Amsterdam, which managed MSF’s
here, raises three key lessons for the future. involvement in the MV Aquarius operation. Search and
Firstly, humanitarians need to better understand the rescue operations were also run by two other MSF
nature of the threat itself, and learn to recognise it when Operational Centres in Brussels and Barcelona. The
it appears. Just as humanitarians need to understand authors are writing in their personal capacities and the
who is acting and how in the physical spaces they work views expressed do not necessarily represent those of their
in, so too will they need to understand the actors in the organisation.
information space. In particular, this will require greater 2 ‘A conspiracy theory is an effort to explain some event or
understanding of social media and efforts to build practice by reference to the machinations of powerful
audience and engagement, which is presently only a people, who have also managed to conceal their role’
fraction of that of, say, online anti-immigrant move- (Sunstein and Vermeule, 2008).
ments. And perhaps also a break with the respectable but 3 Researchers have long challenged the dichotomy between
staid ‘institutional voice’ with which humanitarians ‘pull’ and ‘push’ factors driving migration as simplistic,
speak with the public. and yet it still dominates the policy discussion
Secondly, humanitarians will need to prepare them- (Cusumano and Villa, 2019).
selves practically to confront this threat, by building, 4 Indeed, even further back, similar accusations had been
updating and improving systems, especially in commu- made in 2004, after the German ship the Cap Anamur
nications. Boosting preparedness is one key area, perhaps run by the organisation Human Rights Without Borders,
based on the key tools that humanitarians already use for rescued 37 people lost at sea. The ship’s captain and the
security management, such as risk analyses, mitigation organisation’s director were charged with criminal
and contingency planning and pre-designated crisis offences by Italian authorities, but were acquitted five
cells.10 Further, humanitarians could consider years later (Sarobmed, undated).
following the lead of human rights organisations and 5 Operation Triton was an EU operation on the Medi-
media outlets, which have begun building their capacities terranean, coordinated by Frontex, which replaced Mare
in digital verification, using open sources to confirm or Nostrum in November 2014. It was frequently criticised
contradict accounts of events including atrocities. In by human rights groups and activists for being designed
search and rescue, some of the most engaging work has more to block migrant boats from crossing than rescuing
been done by outfits such as Forensic Oceanography, those vessels which foundered (Tazzioli, 2016).
which used open source information-gathering 6 The video has since been taken down, for unknown
techniques to reconstruct incidents at sea. reasons, but was at www.youtube.com/watch?
Thirdly, humanitarians need to reflect upon the v=gQ9jMwgoTZA
implications of disinformation campaigns for the 7 For a full list of legal actions against NGO search and
interpretation of our principles and the sources of our rescue vessels as of mid 2019, see FRA (2019).
legitimacy. Humanitarians are still widely seen as 8 As of June 2020, Infowars received 989,000 daily page
legitimate actors for multiple reasons, including alliances views and Southern had 694,000 YouTube subscribers.
with communities, roots in civil society, recognition by 9 Hahl et al. (2018: 4) explicitly links populist movements,
peers, qualities and characters of members, principles, that is, an aggrieved constituency who come to see the
ethics and commitments and so on (Calain, 2012). But at establishment as not representing them and instead
its core, humanitarian legitimacy comes from acting in a serving an ulterior set of motives, to the appeal of
humanitarian way – by doing good, by acting our values. demagoguery and lying. Specifically, during crises of
Providing care to people in danger will not prevent us legitimacy, the ‘lying demagogue will seem more
36 from being attacked by authoritarian states or populist authentic in her claims to be champion of this
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via free accessCusumano, E. and Villa, M. (2019), ‘Sea Rescue NGOs: A Pull Factor
The Critical Risk of Disinformation for Humanitarians
constituency if she is willing to burn her bridge to
acceptability in the political establishment’. of Irregular Migration?’, Policy Briefs, 2019/22, Migration Policy
Centre: Florence. Retrieved from Cadmus, European University
10 The US humanitarian coalition InterAction has pro-
Institute Research Repository, http://hdl.handle.net/1814/65024
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blog/order-from-chaos/2019/09/04/matteo-salvini-is-out-but-not-down/
(accessed 7 October 2020).
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