An article in a socialist newspaper praises the blackout in Spain as 'social experiment'

One of the most common nicknames used by many leftists is "progressives", equating their ideas with progress.

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Its author was director of the Digital Department of La Moncloa

However, it seems that some people are not happy with technological progress. Yesterday, the socialist newspaper El País, a media outlet aligned with Pedro Sánchez's government, published a mind-blowing article titled "Misinformation Blackout: Neither Light nor Hoaxes", signed by Delia Rodríguez, who between February 2020 and September 2022 held the position of Director of the Digital Department of the Secretariat of State for Communication, which reports directly to the Presidency of the Government, based in La Moncloa Palace, Pedro Sánchez's residence.

The article yearns for the times when there were no social networks

The article begins with this introduction: "Without social media, WhatsApp, or Telegram spreading falsehoods, we were much calmer." The fact that someone who has held a high-ranking government position writes this gives us an idea of ​​the mentality of those currently governing Spain and their concept of freedom of expression. Pay attention to the first paragraph of the article:

On Monday, we didn't just return for a few hours to a civilization without electricity. The blackout also made us experience a brief return to a world where digital misinformation didn't exist. Without social media, WhatsApp, or Telegram to receive or spread hoaxes. With a handful of accessible news outlets, established radio stations, each with its own editorial focus. And with only a few spokespersons available, all of them official and knowledgeable about the facts, whether government or corporate. It was a few hours without digital noise. No jokes, no threads from pseudo-experts, no political memes in group chats, no forwarded videos and audios with crazy theories, no influencers or public figures spreading unfounded opinions. Without (and this is very important) coordinated disinformation campaigns—internal or external—to try to destabilize the system. We couldn't access information during the blackout, but neither could we access disinformation. If the good guys couldn't broadcast it, neither could the bad guys.

That paragraph is filled with a nostalgia for a past in which freedom of information was much more expensive and more controlled than it is today, since today it is not necessary to have a television channel, a radio station, or a newspaper to be able to disseminate information and opinions to the entire world. For humanity, the Internet has been a colossal advance, which has made information available to everyone instantly and at a very low price.

The blackout as a “social and communicative experiment”

Sin embargo, algunos "progresistas" añoran la dependencia de los medios convencionales, cuando la desinformación era más difícil de desmontar, precisamente porque no existían las redes sociales. Pero la cosa no se queda ahí. Si el primer párrafo del artículo resulta revelador, los dos últimos son para echarse las manos a la cabeza:

In short: For a few hours, we trusted traditional media and experts, we saw their predictions come true, we listened to our own eyes, and we replaced the dopamine of social media with the dopamine of social contact. I doubt there are precedents for a similar social and communication experiment that spans entire countries.

Now things will change. After this hiatus, the disinformation industry is back, spreading the idea that renewable energy is undesirable.

Let's remember that one of those traditional media outlets, Cadena SER (a pro-government station with a socialist editorial line) called the risk of a blackout in Spain in 2021 a "hoax." Are these the media outlets that article wants us to trust?

Finally, years ago, those who displayed nostalgia for an authoritarian past were usually labeled "retrograde" and "reactionary." Now, those nostalgic for a past without social media, with fewer tools to disseminate opinions and with less and more expensive access to information, call themselves "progressives".

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Photo: Seoane Prado / Wikimedia. Rosalía de Castro Street in Vigo, photographed on the night of the national blackout on April 28, 2025.