False claims about funding cuts and solar farms spread in Spain during wildfires

A fabricated newspaper front page and misleading posts about solar farms are among the claims circulating during Spain’s devastating wildfire season. As Spain battles to contain wildfires amidst reports of another heatwave, misleading claims about the response to the blaze and its origins have spread online. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez himself has urged the public to rely on credible information and warned about the spread of false claims. Speaking in Almería on 13 July following a visit to the site of the fire in Los Gallardos in south-eastern Spain, he called the role of the media "crucial" in combatting "misinformation", adding that the spread of false information can make an emergency more difficult. Later on, on 27 July, Sánchez thanked news outlets for combating the spread of disinformation about the fires. "We're seeing lots of fake news, a lot of disinformation about whether the fires were started to build solar power plants, lithium mines, rare earth mines," he said, adding that authorities were investigating the true cause of the emergency. He also said that the climate crisis is causing heatwaves that are making the wildfires even worse. Spain is no stranger to false theories surrounding wildfires. Last year, claims spread that wildfires in the country were started deliberately so that developers could use the land to rebuild, despite ultimately being untrue. This year, many of the same narratives have resurfaced, alongside new false claims about the government's response to the blazes. For example, one image shared on X and Facebook purports to show the front page of Spanish newspaper El País claiming the government cut wildfire prevention funding by more than half, from €423 million in 2018 to €181 million in 2026. However, this image is fabricated. El País did not publish such a front page, and the lead story in the real 24 July issue is an interview with former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. Recent official announcements have highlighted expanded national wildfire preparedness and prevention measures ahead of the 2026 wildfire season. According to the Ministry for Ecological Transition's latest Forest Investment Study, central government investment in wildfire prevention rose from €13 million in 2018 to €28.3 million in 2024. Claims linking fires to solar farms Another claim circulating online alleged that the fire in Los Gallardos had been deliberately started to clear land for a solar farm project. The posts pointed to planning documents for the proposed Sorbas II photovoltaic project by energy company EIDF alongside an official notice published in Spain's Official State Gazette (BOE) suggesting that the fire, which has killed at least 13 people so far, was linked to the development. However, a review of the documents by Spanish fact-checking outlet Maldita shows they do not support this conclusion, showing that the proposed site for the Sorbas II solar plant was not impacted by the wildfire. In addition, it was planned to be built on agricultural land, meaning the land would not have had to be reclassified in order for the project to be built. Authorities have also not linked the cause of the Los Gallardos wildfire to the proposed solar project. The working hypothesis pursued by investigators in the case of Los Gallardos is that the blaze was sparked by a fallen electricity cable or power line. Other posts circulating on X, Facebook and TikTok also alleged that the rise of solar farm projects in Spain is directly linked to wildfires, with the government or developers deliberately sparking fires in order to redevelop land. However, Spain's Forestry Law generally prohibits changing the use of burned forest land for at least 30 years, except in limited circumstances defined by law, such as if construction on that land is deemed to be in the public interest. Spanish fact-checkers also debunked false claims that the UN's 2030 Agenda or Spain's Forestry Law prohibit forest clearing, noting that the legislation instead requires wildfire prevention work to be carried out by regional authorities.