Romania grapples with disinformation ahead of tense presidential run-off

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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  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.

01:58Yeah.

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.

02:17Yeah.

02:18Yeah.

02:20yeah.

02:22Yeah.

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