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A song in Spanish with anti-immigrant messages was used in more than 400 TikTok videos, some of which had a significant reach. And it’s not the only one. Similar songs have gone viral across Europe. There are versions in different languages but with similar messages in countries like France, Germany, or Turkey. They are used in posts with thousands of likes and views, spreading phrases like “we’ve given you enough, now you can leave”, “Germany for the Germans, foreigners out”, or “I’m the only purebred left in the neighbourhood”.
Maldita.es has contacted several fact-checkers, members of the European Fact-Checking Standards Network (EFCSN), to track down this type of content and, after a search on different platforms, we found up to eight songs with discriminatory messages available on social media and websites in different countries. Posts sharing this content are filled with comments against immigrants. This happens despite the platforms where they circulate having policies that do not allow content that promotes hate speech against this group.
At least 8 songs with racist messages have been spread online in Spain, France, Germany, Austria, Albania, and Turkey
“If they’re Moroccan, they’ll come after you. If they’re Algerian, they’ll mess you up. If they’re Tunisian, they’ll rob your neighbour.” Originally in Spanish, these are the opening lines of the anti-immigrant song that we warned about a few days ago. It has circulated at least on Twitter (now X) and TikTok, where it was used in more than 400 videos (some with thousands of views and likes) before the platform removed it for “violating community guidelines”. By then, it had been circulating for two weeks and reappeared shortly after. As of the publication of this text, it is still available in several posts on Twitter.
The French version starts by saying: “‘I won’t leave’. Yes, yes you will. And sooner than you think. We’ve given you enough. Now you can go. Finally, and don’t come back.” This song has gone viral, especially on Twitter (where lines have been translated into Spanish and English). Although it also circulated on TikTok, the platform removed at least two versions of this audio. It was also removed from YouTube after “a copyright infringement complaint” regarding the images used to accompany the audio.
According to several French media outlets, such as Le Monde, the song titled Je partirai pas (“I won’t leave” in English) was spread especially during the legislative elections held in France between late June and early July 2024. Its lyrics make direct reference to Jordan Bardella, a candidate for Prime Minister of the National Rally (RN). “When Bardella comes, you’ll go home. You’ll wear your djellaba. You can pray all day. Now you’re starting to annoy us,” goes a line of the song. Some French politicians have shared the song on their social media.
Spain and France are not the only countries where songs with these messages have gone viral. In Germany, one saying “Deutschland den Deutschen, Ausländer raus”: “Germany for the Germans, foreigners out” in its English translation, has spread widely. Although the original version of the song does not contain these lyrics, the one circulating on social media does. This discriminatory slogan has been replicated in several languages and shared on social media as if it were a song.
In the German case, they use the base of the song called “L'Amour Toujours”, released in 1999, to which they add the anti-immigration lines. According to the German public broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR24), in May 2024, attendees at a party on the island of Sylt chanted these xenophobic slogans while the song played. This action led to a complaint filed by the bar owners. However, the next day the same chants with the same song were reported in another German region.
Fact-checkers from the APA agency told Maldita.es that similar cases have been reported in Austria, where this song was sung during a party in the Tyrol region. The same song also went viral with Spanish messages on social media, along with a video of a DJ as if she were playing it, although as we already reported, it was a hoax: the audio of the DJ's session had been modified.
From Albania, the media outlet Faktoje, member of the EFCSN, explains that a song with “ethno-nationalist messages” against the Serbian-origin population has been shared on TikTok and other social media. The part that went viral says: “Yes, me, not you, because I was here when there was no one, no borders, no neighbours.” These lines are part of a text written by the Albanian-origin writer Dhimitër Pasko (whose pseudonym is Mitrush Kuteli).
In Turkey, similar content has also been shared. According to fact-checkers at Teyit, a song criticising the presence of refugees and the Government’s policy recently went viral. It was posted on YouTube in 2022 and, as of the publication of this text, it is still available. Some of its lines are: “I’m the only purebred left in the neighbourhood”, “Istiklal Street (one of Istanbul’s most famous avenues) is like Pakistan”, or “the Russians always bought houses in Antalya” (a Turkish city).
More recently, another Turkish song with anti-immigrant messages has emerged on social media. In this example, Teyit explains, refugees are referred to as gulyabani, meaning bogeyman or ogre, and it is said that the solution is for them to leave the country.
In France, ‘SOS Racisme’ claims to have filed a complaint for incitement to hatred
These songs are being shared on social media platforms like Twitter or TikTok, where they reach thousands of views and interactions from users. Among these are discriminatory comments and ones against the migrant or Muslim population, such as “goodbye, Islam”, “if you throw one out the door, 10 come in through the window”, or “and we have to put up with that scum...”.
In France, SOS Racisme platform said on Twitter that it had filed a complaint for incitement to hatred due to the dissemination of the racist song in the country. “These unacceptable comments must be immediately removed from all digital platforms,” they stated.
Social Media platforms have policies against this kind of content, but many of the songs are still available
These songs have circulated on social media (some are still available), despite platforms’ policies that do not allow discriminatory content or hate speech against certain groups classified as “vulnerable”, which includes immigrants.
For example, TikTok (one of the platforms where this content has been most widely shared) states in its Community Guidelines that it does not allow “any hate speech or behaviour, or advocacy of ideologies based on hatred”. This includes attacks, threats, dehumanisation, or degradation against people who are part of what they call “protected groups”. That is, communities sharing “immutable personal characteristics” that can cause “severe psychological harm” if someone forces them to change or attacks them because of those features.
These attributes include race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, tribe or caste affiliation, sexual orientation, sex, gender, gender identity, serious illness, disability, and migration status. These properties are covered, according to TikTok's Safety and Civility Page, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international treaties.
When prohibited content is spread on TikTok, the platform begins a thorough review that includes behaviours outside the platform, according to their website. This could even result in account blocking for violating community guidelines.
Twitter is another platform where this type of content has had a presence (and still does in some cases, like the Spanish one). According to its website on Safety and Cybercrime, users cannot attack or threaten others “directly because of their race, ethnicity, national origin, caste affiliation, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease” (what they call “protected categories”). In theory, they take action on accounts that attack people in these groups in their posts or direct messages with the following behaviours:
References to violence and hatred: content that refers to forms of violence or violent events where a protected category was the primary target. For example, genocides (such as the Holocaust) or lynchings.
Incitement to hatred: attacks directed at people belonging to protected categories. For example, spreading fearful stereotypes about a protected category ("all [members of a religious group] are terrorists") or inciting others to harass members of a protected category.
Insults and clichés or other content intended to degrade or reinforce negative or harmful stereotypes.
Dehumanisation.
Images that are considered incitement to hatred: logos, symbols, or images whose purpose is to foster hostility and malice against others. For example, the Nazi swastika or altered images of individuals with animal characteristics.
According to their website, in response to such behaviour, Elon Musk's platform imposes a penalty that can range from reducing the visibility of the infringing account’s content to deleting the post or even suspending the account. As of the publication of this text, there is still content on Twitter with the aforementioned songs.
Although no longer available, the French anti-immigrant song was temporarily posted on YouTube. The Spanish one, for example, is still available; although the platform acknowledges on its website that hate speech is not allowed. Thus, they prohibit content that promotes violence or hatred against “protected groups”. That is, people with the following attributes: age, caste, disability, ethnicity, gender identity and expression, nationality, race, immigration status, religion, sex or gender, sexual orientation, victim of a violent catastrophic event, and US military veteran status.
This policy applies, according to YouTube, to both videos and live broadcasts as well as descriptions, comments, and products or features on the platform. These violations result in penalties such as content removal or channel termination (in case of repeated violations).
