Narrative Attacks Erupt After European Energy Blackout

When electrical systems failed across Spain and Portugal on April 28, digital networks lit up with competing explanations. The blackout triggered an immediate narrative battle, with actors across political spectrums rushing to shape public understanding.

The widespread power failure disrupted millions of lives. Technical experts had barely begun their assessment work before social platforms were flooded with unverified claims. Data analysis revealed clear partisan patterns in the promotion of narratives. Conservative voices dominated skepticism of renewable energy, while progressive accounts advanced theories about foreign cyber operations.

LEARN: What Is Narrative Intelligence?

1. The Renewable Energy Narrative

The most prevalent narrative, comprising nearly 34,000 posts in the two days following the outage, claimed that renewable energy sources were responsible for the Iberian blackout. This storyline gained substantial traction within hours of the outage, particularly among climate policy critics and right-wing audiences – comprising 46.3% of total posts in this narrative.

Social media users have spread the false claim that Spain has converted entirely to renewable energy sources, a significant distortion of the country’s energy mix. These posts asserted that green energy inherently lacks reliability, presenting the blackout as inevitable proof that net-zero policies threaten energy security.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage exemplified political opportunism in this narrative. Farage leveraged the blackout to criticize climate policies, positioning his party as the sole political entity willing to protect Britain from similar failures. “This is what happens when governments pursue fantasy energy policies” became a common refrain among his supporters.

Russian state-aligned accounts comprised approximately 5% of users pushing this narrative. These accounts focused specifically on UK audiences, warning that Britain faces a similar fate as it pursues its climate goals. Some praised former US President Donald Trump for supposedly protecting America from similar vulnerabilities.

Evidence suggests that coordinated attempts are being made to exploit existing Spanish political divisions. Pro-Russian influencers amplified statements from opposition politician Alberto Nunez Feijoo criticizing the current administration. They highlighted his claims about an excessive focus on green energy and insufficient investment in nuclear power, attempting to deepen domestic political fractures over energy policy.

This network graph from Blackbird.AI’s Constellation Narrative Intelligence Platform illustrates the connections between users who blame renewable energy for the power outage in the narrative. Highly polarized users are represented in red, while all others are represented in white. The larger red nodes—representing higher-engagement users—indicate that these polarizing users drove the conversation around green energy. 

2. The Israel Connection Theory

A second central narrative – consisting of more than 9,400 posts – claimed Israeli involvement in the power outage. This storyline built upon Spain’s recent cancellation of an ammunition contract with Israeli defense firm IMI Systems, suggesting the blackout represented deliberate retaliation.

Timing played a crucial role in this narrative construction. Users pointed to the temporal proximity between Spain’s contract cancellation announcement and the subsequent power failure, presenting correlation as causation without substantiating evidence.

Right-wing accounts (21%) and pro-Russian users (12%) dominated this conversation thread. Their posts specifically highlighted the diplomatic tensions between Spain and Israel following Spain’s recognition of Palestinian statehood earlier this year. The narrative framed the blackout as Israeli punishment for Spain’s Middle East policy positions.

Users circulated screenshots from obscure news sites presenting the connection as fact rather than speculation. These posts often included inflammatory language about alleged Israeli cyberwarfare capabilities. Engagement metrics show these claims received substantial amplification despite lacking credible sourcing.

The narrative displayed classic hallmarks of crisis exploitation, connecting unrelated events to reinforce existing geopolitical viewpoints. While Israeli officials made no statements regarding the outage, the absence of denial became treated as tacit confirmation among those already invested in the theory.

3. The Russian Cyberattack Theory

A concurrent narrative attributed the blackout to Russian cyber operations. This storyline gained particular traction among left-wing users and supporters of Ukraine, reflecting existing concerns about Russian digital warfare capabilities.

The central “evidence” for this theory came from text purportedly excerpted from a CNN article claiming Russian responsibility. The investigation revealed that this content was fabricated, with no corresponding CNN reporting. Nevertheless, the false attribution to a mainstream news source lent temporary credibility.

Approximately 8% of the more than 3,000 posts in this narrative suggest that Russia or President Putin were responsible for the cyberattack. These users pointed to similar incidents in Ukraine and other European nations where Russian involvement was eventually confirmed, drawing parallels without specific technical evidence.

The narrative gained momentum due to its timing relative to broader European security tensions. Users highlighted recent European Union sanctions against Russia and alleged retaliatory patterns. Posts frequently referenced previous Russian cyber operations against critical infrastructure targets, presenting the Iberian incident as fitting an established pattern.

This narrative strand reveals how existing geopolitical frameworks influence the interpretation of crises. For audiences already concerned about Russian digital threats, the blackout slotted neatly into predefined threat models, regardless of technical plausibility or confirming evidence.

This network graph from Blackbird.AI’s Constellation and Narrative Intelligence Platform illustrates the networked connections between users in discussions mentioning Russia (in blue), Israel (in yellow), and allegations of cyberattacks (in red). Users attempting to connect Spain’s recent ammunition contract cancellation and the power outage generated high engagement and occurred in an echo chamber, as illustrated by the closely interconnected large yellow nodes. Not all mentions of Russia and Israel directly implied cyberattacks specifically.

4. The Anti-Socialist Argument

Right-leaning accounts perpetuated a smaller narrative, blaming socialist governance for the vulnerability of infrastructure. This storyline focused intensely on Spain’s past decisions regarding nuclear energy, presenting the outage as an inevitable consequence of progressive energy policies.

Posts in this category specifically criticized Spain’s planned phase-out of nuclear reactors, arguing that abandoning reliable nuclear power for political reasons created unnecessary grid fragility. These users characterized the Spanish government’s energy approach as ideologically driven rather than pragmatically focused.

The narrative expanded beyond Spanish borders, drawing comparisons to electrical failures in Cuba and Venezuela. These comparisons asserted that socialist governance inevitably leads to infrastructure degradation regardless of geographic context or economic conditions. “From Havana to Madrid, socialism creates darkness” became a common theme.

Users advancing this storyline frequently cited historical Spanish power statistics selectively, highlighting periods of excellent stability under conservative governance while omitting contradicting data points. The narrative framework transformed a technical failure into political vindication for right-wing energy perspectives.

The conversation revealed how infrastructure failures become weaponized for ideological purposes. Rather than engaging with complex technical factors, this narrative reduced the outage to a simple morality tale about governance philosophy, satisfying the confirmation bias of already-aligned audiences.

5. Regional Separatism Allegations

A minor but significant narrative thread centered on claims about an attack at the Elorrio substation, operated by Red Electrica in the Basque Country. This storyline linked the power failure to Spanish regional separatist tensions, particularly the Basque independence movement.

Users shared unverified screenshots alleging an explosion at the substation despite no official reports confirming such an incident. These posts often included historical references to ETA, the disbanded Basque separatist organization, implying potential terrorist motivations without explicit accusations.

The narrative gained limited traction primarily among Spanish-language users familiar with regional politics. It played into concerns about resurgent separatist sentiments across Spain, particularly given the increased discussions of autonomy in the Catalonia and Basque regions.

This narrative strand illustrates how national political fault lines influence the interpretation of crises. For audiences already concerned about Spanish territorial integrity, the power outage provided an opportunity to reinforce existing fears about internal security threats despite minimal supporting evidence.

6. The DEI Narrative

A distinct narrative emerged, blaming diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives for compromised infrastructure security. This storyline claimed hiring practices prioritizing demographic diversity undermined technical competence within the energy sector.

While smaller in volume, this narrative received disproportionate engagement within specific online communities. Posts asserted that merit-based systems had been abandoned in favor of identity-based hiring, allowing unqualified personnel to maintain critical infrastructure.

These claims appeared without specific evidence regarding hiring practices at Spanish or Portuguese energy companies. Instead, they reflected broader cultural war themes that were transported into the context of infrastructure security. The narrative attempted to connect an unrelated crisis to ongoing social debates about workplace diversity.

Users promoting this storyline frequently combined it with anti-socialist themes, presenting DEI initiatives as manifestations of a progressive ideology that undermines functional systems. The narrative reveals how contemporary social tensions get mapped onto crisis events regardless of relevant connections.

Patterns in Narrative Manipulation

The Iberian blackout case study reveals sophisticated patterns in the exploitation of crisis narratives. The rapid emergence of multiple competing explanations demonstrates how information vacuums become contested territory for narrative control.

Analysis shows apparent targeting of specific audience segments with tailored narratives. Right-wing users received content emphasizing renewable energy failures and socialist policy critiques while left-leaning audiences encountered Russian cyber operation theories. This segmentation maximized narrative resonance within ideologically receptive communities.

Russian-aligned accounts demonstrated particular strategic sophistication. Rather than promoting a single narrative, they participated across multiple storylines, suggesting an objective of amplifying general confusion rather than establishing a specific explanation. This approach aligns with documented influence operation tactics designed to increase societal polarization.

Timing played a crucial role in establishing the narrative. The most successful false narratives launched within the first four hours of the outage before credible technical explanations became available. This timing exploited peak public attention and information hunger during the uncertainty phase of crisis response.

The Reality Behind the Outage

While narrative warfare unfolded online, power company officials identified the actual cause of the blackout. Preliminary technical assessments indicated that cascade failures in grid management systems were more likely than external attacks or fundamental inadequacies in the energy source.

The contrast between technical reality and narrative construction highlights critical vulnerabilities in crisis information environments. Without rapid, authoritative information from trusted sources, audiences tend to gravitate toward explanations that align with their existing beliefs, regardless of the factual basis.

The Spanish government’s communication response faced significant challenges. Initial statements acknowledged the outage without providing detailed causal explanations, creating an information vacuum quickly filled by competing narratives. This pattern illustrates how the speed of institutional communication directly impacts narrative resilience.

Patterns in Narrative Manipulation

The quick emergence of multiple competing narratives demonstrates how information vacuums during crises create fertile ground for strategic deception.

Each narrative attracted different political audiences, revealing how blackout interpretations aligned with existing beliefs. Right-wing users tended to focus on criticizing renewable energy while left-leaning users concentrated on potential foreign interference.

Russian-aligned accounts participated across multiple narratives, suggesting a strategy to amplify division rather than promote a single explanation.

The Way Forward – Three Takeaways For Organization Leaders

• Prepare crisis communication plans that anticipate information vacuums

Organizations should develop protocols for quick, accurate communication during infrastructure failures. Plans should include templates for initial statements that acknowledge uncertainty while promising updates as information becomes available.

Communications teams require the authority to release preliminary information without lengthy approval processes. Delayed responses create opportunities for narrative attacks to take hold.

• Monitor narrative development across political spectrums.

Organizations must track how different political groups interpret crises. Understanding which narratives resonate with specific audiences enables communicators to address concerns more effectively.

Regular monitoring enables organizations to detect and counter foreign influence operations that exploit domestic divisions. Early detection enables targeted responses to prevent the amplification of disease.

• Build resilient information ecosystems before crises occur

Organizations should establish themselves as reliable information sources before emergencies happen. Regular communication about system operations, improvements, and challenges builds public trust.

Partnerships with credible third-party validators strengthen message reception during crises. However, to maximize effectiveness, these relationships must exist before emergencies.

The Iberian power outage illustrates how quickly manipulated narratives can fill gaps when official communications are delayed. Organizations need to be just as nimble to stay ahead of bad actors.

• To receive a complimentary copy of The Forrester External Threat Intelligence Landscape 2025 Report, visit here.
• To learn more about how Blackbird.AI can help you in these situations, book a demo.