Moldovans are facing a wave of AI-driven disinformation ahead of crucial election

All sorts of wild stories are appearing about pro-Western Moldovan politicians prior to the upcoming parliamentary ballot. Analysts say secret Russian-funded networks are at work – and AI tools are helping them.

Multiple online monitoring groups have tracked propaganda and disinformation campaigns attributed to Russia lately.

To the researchers, it’s obvious that their aim is to diminish support for the ruling pro-European Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) and divert it to the pro-Russian Patriotic Electoral Bloc.

For example, an extensive report by Reset Tech, a global nonprofit that monitors digital threats to democracy and Russian online influence ops, says that Restmedia, an English-language AI-generated platform, publishes Russian propaganda daily.

The report, built on research by Recorded Future’s Insikt Group and the Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference Information Sharing and Analysis Center, details how Restmedia pays “engagement farms” in Africa to promote its narratives across verified accounts on X in “amplification-for-hire” schemes.

The website itself is slick and the articles look serious – but it’s all generated using AI tools.

Besides, although Restmedia tried to “mask its infrastructure,” researchers found “clear technical links to Russia” via IP addresses and website metadata.

More specifically, Restmedia seems to be connected to the same network that operates Rybar, a pro-Kremlin propaganda channel sanctioned by both the EU and the US for spreading Russian disinformation.

It’s all in the metadata. Investigators discovered file paths explicitly mentioning “Rybar,” Moscow timezone stamps, and mixed Cyrillic-Latin text. Additionally, while Restmedia uses privacy services to hide its true location, technical analysis revealed that the website’s actual hosting sits on Russian infrastructure – VK’s Cloud Solutions in Moscow.

The Moldovan government is trying to counter this wave of fake news. In mid-September, the Prime Minister Maia Sandu signed a decree approving the establishment of a center to counter disinformation. But the onslaught is relentless.

Fake news stories have claimed that Romania wanted to annex Moldova, that NATO troops were already stationed in the country, and that the government was plotting a dictatorship under the guise of democracy.

Promo-Lex, a Moldovan nonprofit monitoring the election, recently revealed a massive network of fake TikTok accounts, which distribute narratives worthy of being called fake or referred to as “inauthentic coordinated content.”

After racking up 1.3 million views in three days, the network used two election-related hashtags to “manipulate TikTok’s algorithm to force posts” into trending.

Expert Forum, a Romanian think tank monitoring the Moldovan election, additionally said it tracked 100 inauthentic TikTok accounts that garnered a total of 13.9 million views in a campaign driven by “fear and resentment.”

According to Repsense, an AI narrative intelligence platform, fake news stories have claimed that Romania wanted to annex Moldova, that NATO troops were already stationed in the country, and that Sandu was plotting a “dictatorship under the guise of democracy.”

Authorities in Chisinau have long said that Russia is conducting a hybrid war – meddling in elections, spreading disinformation, and covertly funding pro-Russian parties – to try to derail the country’s path toward EU membership.

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