Romania blocks dozens of fake social media accounts promoting specific candidates

Romania’s Digitalization Ministry announced that it blocked dozens of accounts created by organized networks attempting to promote a specific candidate in the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections.

The minister of digitalization, Bogdan Ivan, held a press conference announcing that checks were carried out following a public controversy regarding the illegal influencing of the ongoing electoral campaign through bot farms.

Ivan detailed that discussions had taken place with national authorities and that reports were submitted to the Meta and TikTok platforms for follow-up. As a result, a report was drawn up "highlighting that today, in Romania, dozens of accounts representing multiple organized networks have been identified, attempting to obtain illegitimate content to promote a certain candidate in the presidential and parliamentary elections,” according to Biziday.

The accounts in question and the networks behind them, each operating hundreds of accounts, were blocked.

The investigation is ongoing, including by Facebook operator Meta, and dozens of complaints have been lodged, according to the minister.

Bogdan Ivan also warned social media users to be vigilant. "There are accounts on social media that do not represent real individuals. These should be reported immediately to the platform administrators, to the Ministry of Research and Digitalization through the NoFake platform, and to the Permanent Electoral Authority," he said.

Asked about which candidates were being promoted, the minister only said that “there were multiple candidates. The complaints concerned all candidates, but at the moment, not all candidates have used these troll farms. I have not been given information about a particular candidate or another."

Last month, Mircea Geoană, an independent candidate in the upcoming presidential elections in Romania, was accused by two other candidates, including current prime minister Marcel Ciolacu, of running a bot farm to his benefit in connection to a well-known Israeli leader of hackers. The accusation had been originally made by reformist presidential candidate Elena Lasconi.

Geoană denied any wrongdoing and said that the accusation was part of a campaign to discredit him.

Romania’s presidential elections will take place on November 24, most likely followed by a second tour on December 8.

(Photo source: Peerapong Boriboon | Dreamstime.com)