Romania grapples with disinformation ahead of tense presidential run-off
Analysts say disinformation actors continue to sow division and distrust ahead of a consequential presidential second round on Sunday.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/05/15/romania-grapples-with-disinformation-ahead-of-tense-presidential-run-off
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Analysts say disinformation actors continue to sow division and distrust ahead of a consequential presidential second round on Sunday.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/05/15/romania-grapples-with-disinformation-ahead-of-tense-presidential-run-off
Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages
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00:00Romania grapples with disinformation ahead of the presidential runoff.
00:07Romanian voters face a deluge of disinformation as they prepare to choose between centrist
00:12Nicu Shordan and ultra-nationalist Giorgio Simeon in a presidential runoff on Sunday.
00:18The election was first held back in November but annulled after this man, Calin Georgescu,
00:23allegedly received Russian support to coordinate the TikTok campaign that swept him to a first-round
00:29victory.
00:30There is still no undeniable public evidence to confirm Russia's involvement.
00:35Ahead of Sunday's runoff, EuroVerify identified a raft of disinformation on TikTok.
00:40They include claims of massive electoral fraud.
00:43This video alleges that diaspora votes are being doubled to skew the votes in favour of
00:48pro-EU candidate Nicu Shordan.
00:50Some politicians also allege there are as many as two million deceased people still on
00:55the electoral lists, a claim Romania's Interior Ministry has refuted.
01:00We also sow claims the election will be cancelled again, despite there being no evidence to support
01:05this.
01:06Romanian fact-checkers say the claim was first made on a sanctioned pro-Cremlin publication
01:11and is intended to suppress the vote.
01:14Analysts say disinformation actors are sowing conspiracies and distrust in Romania, which
01:19is vulnerable to hybrid warfare due to its geographical position on Europe's eastern flank.
01:24The cancellation of the initial votes is also feeding into a wider sense of distrust in
01:29public institutions.
01:31The cancellation itself has eroded public confidence even more in democratic stability.
01:38And obviously it's very easy now to exploit narratives related to that of state incompetence
01:43or state corruption.
01:45The French Cyber Security Agency has said Romania remains vulnerable to electoral interference
01:50in this electoral rerun and that European countries such as France also face similar threats.
01:56Yeah.
01:57Yeah.
01:57Yeah.
01:58Yeah.
02:00Well...
02:01Eh...
02:02Don't be the only way they go.
02:04That 4-materia away is a**
02:06unaware of some events for atheists.
02:07Yeah.
02:08Yeah.
02:09Yeah.
02:10Yeah.
02:11Yeah.
02:12Yeah.
02:14Yeah.
02:16Yeah.
02:16Yeah.
02:16Yeah.
02:17Yeah.
02:17Yeah.
02:18Yeah.
02:18Yeah.
02:20yeah.
02:22Yeah.