Riccione, August 11, 2026 – The League defends itself against accusations made by the municipality of Riccione, which announced a lawsuit for aggravated defamation after the video published on August 6 on the TikTok channel ‘Legaofficial’ showing images of Ceuta as if it were a beach in Riccione populated by black people and the caption “Pov. It’s 2030, you are on the beach in Riccione and Matteo Salvini is not the Minister of the Interior”.
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The communication staff clarifies that it is a video-meme, and not a fake video, and that the reference to Riccione was as a symbolic place of the Italian coasts described in a dystopian key.
In a four-point note , the party staff confirms that the account that spread the video “is the official League channel on TikTok”.
“It plays on irony and paradox, even Treccani says so”
It then points out that “it is a meme”, quoting the definition of meme according to Treccani and explaining that “it is therefore a language that, by its very nature, can play on irony, paradox, and the deliberately unreal juxtaposition of images, places, situations, and different contexts”.
So it insists: “Precisely because it is a meme, it is evident that what is shown in the video is not the beach of Riccione. The images used refer to what happened in Ceuta and the perspective indicated in the video is explicitly set in 2030. It is therefore the representation of a dystopian future: what happened in Spain is a warning of what could happen to Italy and all of Europe if borders are not defended, as the League demands, and if uncontrolled immigration is pushed, as the left wants. Riccione was taken as an example as a famous Italian seaside resort, but the message obviously concerns all the coasts of the country.”
“We don’t want Riccione to become like this, that’s why that video”
“It is precisely because we do not want Riccione, or any other Italian location, to become like this in the future – continues the reply – that the League launched this message.”
Last point: “There is nothing racist in the video” so “it is wrong to call it a fake video, as some newspapers have done: there is no photomontage and no images generated or altered through artificial intelligence were used”.
Finally, the note ironically thanks the Riccione municipal administration “for the wave of free publicity reserved for the Lega TikTok page, which since December has been continuously the party page with the greatest growth in Italy on the platform.”
The mayor’s reply: “Embarrassing”
“The League claiming authorship of that abhorrent video is shameless, but at least now we know who to ask for compensation for Riccione.” Thus, Mayor Daniela Angelini reacted to the communication team’s note of the Carroccio. “It is simply embarrassing and disconcerting that from the party that expresses the Vice President of the Council such horrifying content is published and even defended – Angelini observes in a note -: first witnessing the ridiculous attempt to make people believe that the page was not the League’s, as declared by MP Morrone, and then reading today a statement in which they claim the content and even mock our city, shows a total lack of respect for institutions and for our community.” In any case, the Riccione mayor emphasizes, “the ostentatious confidence with which they defend an act of hate propaganda does not move our position by a millimeter, on the contrary, it strengthens it. Now that there is a formal assumption of responsibility, the Municipality of Riccione knows exactly who to turn to for the claim of damages of one million.”
The previous episode: what happened on Monday
After the video was published, Mayor Angelini had reacted like this: “Riccione is not the backdrop for hate propaganda nor the stage for anyone’s provocations – she said –. The value of hospitality, respect, and inclusion represents the deep identity of Riccione, as well as a fundamental asset of our tourist appeal. The damage to the image must be punished.”
And after the first self-defenses by the League representatives, the mayor had increased the tone: “Faced with the unbearable justifications put forward by the Carroccio political figures, the municipal administration chose the line of maximum firmness, radically contesting the downgrading of the episode to mere satire or communicative boutade. The safeguarding of the city’s reputation and the historic tradition of hospitality and inclusion was considered a non-negotiable priority value.”
“Riccione is not the backdrop for hate propaganda”
All this was the premise for filing a complaint-lawsuit for aggravated defamation via social media with a consequent claim for damages amounting to one million euros. “If the Court should recognize the validity of our reasons – Angelini had added – and grant the requested compensation, not a single euro will remain in the entity’s coffers: the entire amount will be allocated to the municipal fund to support rent payments for citizens and families in economic difficulty.”
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