Overview

• The UPV–VIU analysis, published in Revista Mediterránea de Comunicación, reviewed 185 news items with 192 hoax mentions from late October to mid‑November 2024, after floods that killed 228 people in Valencia province.
• Three quarters of the false claims were classified as intentional disinformation rather than inadvertent mistakes.
• About half of the hoaxes spread through social networks and messaging apps, with algorithms favoring highly emotional content, while 26% echoed in traditional media.
• Up to 28% originated in or were amplified by professional journalistic environments and prominent influencers, with the most viral case falsely alleging hundreds of bodies in the Bonaire underground car park.
• Official debunking efforts arrived late and had limited reach, and fact‑checkers such as Maldita.es, Newtral and VerificaRTVE were essential yet overstretched, with the overall misinformation wave undermining emergency management and public trust.