Spain

Twitter released a dataset containing a network of 259 accounts ‘falsely boosting public sentiment online’ in a campaign linked to Partido Popular, which is a conservative Spanish political party. Amid rising political tensions in Spain, the network’s Twitter operations amplified messages that undermined the ruling Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) and its leader, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. For example, it shared content targeting his economic management of the country and accusing him of being conciliatory towards the Catalonian separatist movement, among other messages. Partido Popular has denied any involvement in the operation or the creation of fake accounts. Account creation in March 2019 corresponded with political events, such as protests held mid-month in Madrid by pro-Catalan independence supporters regarding the trial of 12 separatist leaders who helped organise the Catalan independence referendum. Criticism of Sánchez’s handling of Catalan’s rising discontent and desire to separate from Spain features heavily within this operation. The network was also active during the lead-up to the general election held in late April 2019. The two most popular hashtags tweeted by the network were associated with Partido Popular and condemned Sánchez and the PSOE. #PedroSeLoFunde, according to DFR Lab analysis, corresponded with an official Partido Popular video campaign that criticised ministerial councils’ excessive spending to fund PSOE election campaigns.