The girl who managed to reach Ceuta, altered with AI to sell an unlikely ‘European dream’

Several images of a girl smiling with a green card in her hand in the name of Farah, where the European flag and the Spanish coat of arms can be seen, circulate in Arabic groups on Instagram and Facebook promoting passage from Morocco to Spain through Ceuta. They are accompanied by texts in Arabic celebrating her fate after crossing the border.

The image is one of many that use the face of the same girl to present a success story of the late July migration wave in Spanish territory, but, like many others, it shows signs of having been generated or altered with artificial intelligence tools. The girl starring in it is the one that media and viral publications have identified in recent days as Farah, a young woman from Al-Araish (Larache in Spanish, a Moroccan town located between Tangier and Tetouan), who swam into Ceuta on July 28, two days before tens of thousands of others did the same.

A video from El Faro de Ceuta captured her smiling and making the victory sign with her fingers right after arriving. The local media images, real, went viral quickly and, according to various investigations, were reused as propaganda material to the point of becoming one of the keys that incited the massive crossing in the last days of July. The real video first, and the deepfakes that came later, build a narrative presenting Spain and Europe as a secured future for thousands of North African youth. We explain it to you!

The card the girl holds in the photograph replicates the identification document that migrants arriving in Ceuta and entering the Temporary Stay Center for Immigrants (CETI) of the autonomous city receive, as regulated by Royal Decree 557/2011 in its article 266. The similarities are evident from images published by El Faro de Ceuta: a green card, the EU flag, the logo of what seems to be the Ministry of Labor, Migration and Social Security (now Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration), and identifying fields such as name, surname, and nationality.

However, “this woman does not reside in the CETI,” explain the press department of the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration in an email to Verificat, asserting that the viral image is manipulated with AI.

Several details suggest this. The letters with the ministry’s name are indistinguishable and have different colors than the real ones, the field identifying the stay center has illegible characters and does not correspond to the actually printed details (SEM CETI de Ceuta), and the labels “name,” “surname,” and “country” are also missing in the corresponding fields.

The image, however, does not contain the invisible SynthID watermark that allows identifying synthetic content without doubt, according to ChatGPT and Gemini, so we cannot confirm that it was generated with this type of tool.

The supposed photograph conveys the idea that, by entering the CETI, the girl has completed her migration process and has been able to settle in Spain. In reality, passing through the temporary center is only a necessary stop to enter the country for people who have migrated irregularly in Ceuta and Melilla, and for applicants for international protection and recognition of stateless status (provided they do not have documentation or authorization that supports their transfer to the peninsula), while authorities review their data and file and decide their fate, as established by regulations.

“In no case does staying in the CETI guarantee transfer to the peninsula or residence in Spanish territory for the people accommodated,” assert Inclusion. In fact, Miguel Ángel Pérez, Government delegate in Ceuta, already explained on Tuesday, August 4, that if authorities reject granting international protection to CETI residents, “the corresponding return procedures will be initiated,” in statements collected by RTVE regarding active procedures.

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The procedure is not fast, even if the request is successful. In fact, the regulations do not provide a maximum length of stay. People remain until their transfer.

The supposed photograph in the CETI is one of many with the face of the same girl circulating in groups and social media profiles posting in Arabic, with thousands or tens of thousands of followers. Some impersonate her identity on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, presenting themselves as her official account. Farah smiling on the beach, dressed nicely walking the streets of Ceuta, or playing football are just some examples of manipulated images used in Arab channels to create an optimistic image of the future awaiting those who risk crossing.

In other cases, it is the text accompanying the falsified images that fuels this imaginary: “I have started working,” claims a Facebook profile with 24,000 followers impersonating the girl. “The Spanish authorities decided to transfer her to Madrid […] and register her in a sports club,” says another profile, in this case a blogger with 143,000 followers.

Comments contrast this “European dream,” in the words of some people who crossed the border on July 30 interviewed by NBC News, with the lack of opportunities and freedom they experience in Morocco. That false promise is not new. It constitutes an imaginary built years ago in the minds of migrants, which once they reach their final destination proves unreal, as found by a recent investigation by Migration Studies.

Although scientific literature does not clearly identify it as one of the motivations for migration (lack of opportunities in the country of origin is), it is a factor contributing to the disillusionment and frustration of people who, once migrated, evaluate their new social situation in European lands.

Many of the manipulated images shared these days carry two watermarks: Trucks Zoom and Asala Média. Both are Facebook portals promoting migration and sharing false or AI-generated content for that purpose.

The first now fraudulently identifies itself as Farah’s official profile and publishes deepfakes of her on the streets of Ceuta. Some of the most recent videos have millions of views. Before July 28, however, it published AI-generated content of trucks and had promoted migration through the port of Tangier.

The second defines itself as a personal blog and publishes daily images of the girl identified as Farah, some of which are labeled as AI-generated. It mixes them with current content like the eclipse or the African Women’s Cup of Nations football tournament, which is currently taking place. In the context of the Ceuta crisis, it has published false images and statements from Pedro Sánchez inciting migration by promising “papers” and “dignity” to those who cross the border.

False posts of the girl identified as Farah proliferated after El Faro de Ceuta published a video on social media where she appeared smiling and making the victory sign with her fingers shortly after swimming into Ceuta on the night of July 27 to 28. The real images, recorded by the media and decontextualized on social networks, were key to spurring the massive crossing on July 30, according to a report by the Moroccan National Human Rights Council, which highlights their propagandistic use on social media, and an investigation by the Spanish Golden Owl initiative, linked to the Alicante Science Park, which considers them one of the triggers of the movement.

Verificat is a Catalan non-profit fact-checking platform. It is dedicated to verifying political discourse and content circulating on social networks and to education for critical consumption of information. It is part of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) and the European Fact-Checking Standards Network (EFCSN)

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