Forum users report accounts waking up ahead of Spain's election

Years-old dormant accounts return to defend the PSOE

There is a pattern that repeats every time an election approaches: accounts registered years ago, with barely any posts, suddenly wake up and start replying to messages non-stop. The goal, according to the analysis, is not to debate: it is to drown out any criticism of the PSOE's record and of the left with a flood of propaganda. It is not a new phenomenon, but this time the decline feels greater. The lies and the setups are cruder, more slapdash, and the supposed community managers seem more nervous than in previous elections.

The PSOE and the left flood the forum with cheap propaganda

The underlying complaint is that the economic discussion space has become a private fiefdom. Some claim the entire forum has been taken over by supposed social media operatives serving Vox and the right, who spend all day spreading talking points without contributing a single fact. The accusation cuts both ways: some point to the left's cibervoluntarios (online volunteer activists), others to those on the right. The result is the same: a debate that is no longer about economics, but about who waves the biggest flag.

The most repeated claim is that these accounts do not act out of conviction, but on assignment. They are said to earn a laughable wage, around 2.5 euros an hour, and there is mockery about their mothers earning a living in a more honest way. The abuse is so crude that it undermines the diagnosis itself. When the central argument is an insult, the analysis collapses on its own.

Why does the forum fill up with new accounts before elections?

The explanation being offered is simple: when an election is called, parties activate their digital troops. The snap election is the spark that lights the fuse. From then on, accounts that had not posted for months or years start appearing in every thread that smells of politics. It is no coincidence. It is a coordinated operation aimed at occupying the space and setting the agenda.

Some argue that this time the effort is more brazen. The published polls, with the PSOE surging and the left winning as many seats as the right combined, have rattled the party machines. The so-called Tezanos effect, the one that attributes to the CIS (Spain's official polling institute) an almost supernatural ability to inflate the Government's numbers, is cited as the trigger. If private polls show one result and public ones another, someone has to paper over the gap. And that is where the social media operatives come in.

The underlying problem is that the forum has lost its original purpose. It used to be a place to exchange useful information, first-hand data, real experiences. Now, anyone who wants to read about economics has to wade through a layer of propaganda that covers everything. The ignore tool is no longer enough: threads peine by these accounts still show up in the lists. It is another nail in the coffin of a space dying of suffocation.

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The discussion goes no further. It is known that accounts wake up, that talking points get repeated, and that an election calendar explains it all. What is not known is how many of those accounts are people and how many are payrolls. And until that is known, the debate will remain a battlefield where nobody wins and everybody insults.