Internet users in Romania are finding their social media posts and online news articles bombarded with comments promoting blatant propaganda, inciting hatred towards the EU and NATO, and support for Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
That’s the finding of an investigation which has explored the rapid growth in activity of pro-Russian and pro-Putin propaganda accounts on TikTok, specifically targeting a Romanian audience.
The accounts post messages that purport to come from Russian president Vladimir Putin, encourage anti-EU feeling, and suggest a potential future conflict with Europe during which Romania may wish to ally with Russia.
For example, this social media post uses a depiction of the mythical Balaur dragon (a symbol of Romania) against the backdrop of the country’s flag, while proclaiming:
“If Russia attacks Europe, I swear to fight for Russia! Our enemy is Europe!”
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Some of the posts have even suggested that Vladimir Putin would be welcomed as the leader of Romania.
For instance, in the following social media post, Vladimir Putin is “quoted” describing Romania as “a dictatorial state that follows the orders of the European Union.”
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Other observers have posted on Facebook evidence of how propaganda has been posted by thousands of accounts on Telegram groups in the form of comments claiming “Romanians are the servants of the Europeans, the EU is stealing our wealth, the authorities are against the people, Romanians must wake up and stop being cowards…”
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Over 27,000 fake accounts used during Georgescu’s election campaign have been identified and reported to TikTok.
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Russia will repeat this behaviour in every European country until we are too divided to fight back a Russian invasion. We need to find a way to resist. Maybe start by cutting all non-official lines of communication with Russia, don’t let our internet touch theirs for fear of infection.
I don’t understand why western countries seem so utterly powerless against the relentless social media warfare coming from Russia. Maybe we have no choice but to shut down all these platforms overrun by Putin-bots for the sake of saving democracy