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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If you check their overview page, every article seems to have an ai generated featured image.
I’ve seen a few sites like this, it’s very off-putting in a way, since it means that at least one person lost the opportunity to make money doing this kind of work.
Also, it’s not even like they would try to create some intricate, creative prompt, that plays with the article’s content in an interesting way.