00:03All eyes have been on Spain in recent days after some 60,000 migrants surged across the border from Morocco
00:11to the Spanish Territory of Theuta.
00:13Before tens of thousands crossed the border, videos and rumors circulated online, particularly on TikTok,
00:21suggesting that reaching the territory had become easier and that migrants could not be so easily returned.
00:26One claim was that those who got there would end up in mainland Europe,
00:30with several European politicians alleging that the migrants were headed their way.
00:35Italy's Prime Minister Giorgio Maloney threatened to suspend the open-border Schengen agreement with Spain,
00:41while France's Interior Minister Laurent Nunez announced plans to strengthen border checks with Spain.
00:48However, the EU's Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner said that no migrants crossed into the EU mainland
00:54and that Schengen rules already account for special checks when traveling from Theuta and its sister city, Melilla.
01:01Madrid also says that the vast majority of the migrants have already returned to Morocco.
01:06It remains unclear what caused the sudden surge.
01:09Spain's government has blamed criminal gangs,
01:12while migration and human rights activists say misleading social media posts also help fuel departures.
01:18Others, including the U.S. Department of State, said that the Spanish government's decision to regularize thousands of migrants
01:25encouraged the crossing by signaling Madrid is becoming more lenient.
01:29But the scheme only applied to migrants already living in Spain before the 1st of January this year,
01:35meaning it would not apply to new arrivals.
01:38Social media has also been cited as a contributing factor,
01:42with since-deleted TikTok videos claiming the border was open
01:45and misrepresenting a recent Spanish Supreme Court ruling,
01:49which found that migrants arriving by sea could not be summarily returned without due process.
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