Russian bots hard at work spreading political unrest on Romania's internet

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!"

Older accounts associated with the propaganda campaign previously supported independent far right Romanian politician and conspiracy theorist Călin Georgescu, who ran for the office of Romanian president in 2024, before the elections were cancelled due to allegations of Russian interference.

Accounts associated with the campaign which have been created more recently appear to have quickly gained new followers with the intention of propagating similar themes.

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."

The quote ends by "Putin" saying that he "will have to release" the people of Romania.

Another message on the same account said: "How does Romania not love me? I opened an account in a day and I jumped 10,000 followers!"

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..."

Ironically, some of the comments have been accidentally left in Russian rather than properly translated into Romanian.

Over 27,000 fake accounts used during Georgescu's election campaign have been identified and reported to TikTok. The Chinese company recently reported to the European Commission that it has removed a number of covert influence operations that attempted to manipulate discourse about the Romanian election.