TikTok posts under the tag called people to Catalonia Square on Saturday, Oct. 24, and QR codes sent them to WhatsApp or Telegram channels, Catalonia’s interior chief, Núria Parlon, told Cadena SER radio, reports BritPanorama.
On paper, it was a protest over education. There was no route, Parlon said. No banners. No manifesto. Just groups of 10 to 15 young men looting stores, burning trash containers, and smashing bus stops.
When police arrived, the looters scattered, said an AP journalist who was at the scene.
Police reported 130 arrests, including 76 minors, according to Spanish news agency EFE.
Some TikTok accounts promoting the gatherings disappeared, while others advertised new Halloween protests, Maldita.es reported. In one Telegram group, messages urged people to wear masks and gloves and wait to be told of a shop “without police.”
‘You break it, you pay’
In Italy, the argument starts with another family. “Behind that shop window there is a family that has invested a lifetime of sacrifices,” Premier Giorgia Meloni said Oct. 20, announcing a security decree after looting in Milan.
Her principle fits in three Italian words: “Chi rompe paga” — you break it, you pay. “And if the one who breaks it is a minor,” she said, “their parents pay.”
Parents now face fines of up to 1,000 euros ($1,120), doubled for a repeat offense, unless they prove they couldn’t have stopped their child. They can be made to pay for damage.
Holding parents accountable may help, said Claudio Bertolotti, director of START InSight, a security research firm, but “fines alone are unlikely to deter teenagers driven by peer pressure or a desire for group recognition.”
Organizing protest violence, even online, now carries four to 12 years in prison.
Before the window breaks
Telegram and WhatsApp “must shut down such channels when they incite violence,” Parlon said.
Telegram spokesperson Remi Vaughn told The Associated Press the company supports peaceful speech and protest, but “calls for violence, vandalism and theft are explicitly forbidden and are removed whenever discovered.”
He said Telegram had removed such calls linked to protests in Madrid.
TikTok and Meta, which owns WhatsApp, did not respond to requests for comment.
Telegram closed a Barcelona group promoting Halloween looting, but a replacement drew more than 2,000 members, Spanish media reported.
The French bill would let authorities demand removal of certain illegal calls to violence or looting without prior court approval. If they stay up 24 hours, they could order the web addresses blocked. Those decisions could be challenged in court.
The United States is going the other way. Its law generally shields platforms from civil liability for users’ posts, and the Trump administration calls Europe’s rules censorship.
Britain shows the limits of takedowns. After three girls were killed in Southport in 2024, false claims spread online and riots followed. A parliamentary committee found that algorithms amplified harmful material, much of it legal.
Under France’s bill, money meant to house and raise children could help pay for a looted shop.
