“Moldova is full of surprises”, “Moldova live”, “Inspiration from Moldova”… Curious Facebook pages have appeared in recent months. Mostly named in Romanian, some in Russian, they present themselves mainly as journalistic or current affairs pages, display the colors of Moldova and publish extensively about local politics and the economy.
According to data shared with The world by the NGO Reset, these false pages have been used, since July 2023, as part of an interference campaign aimed at defending pro-Russian personalities and interests in Moldova, using Facebook’s advertising network.
Manipulative operations of this type are not uncommon. However, this stands out for the significant resources invested, according to Reset: the estimated advertising budget for the campaign is between 198,000 and 280,000 euros, the equivalent, explains the organization, of almost a quarter of the total money spent since 2020 on Facebook political ads in Moldova. A preliminary report, consulted by The worldlists 605 advertisements identified since July, which have garnered at least 155 million views.
Attack the European Union
Main objective of this campaign: to promote investments in Moldova by Ilan Shor, a famous pro-Russian Moldovan oligarch who fled the country and is today the subject of sanctions, both American and European, for his links with the Russian authorities. “Ilan Shor’s team repaired the roads on Trandafirilor Street in Orhei. The potholes have been filled, the tarmac has been redone as well as the ground markings”for example, advertises an advertisement on the “Moldova live” page, financed to the tune of more than 1,500 euros and seen by nearly a million people.
Some of the content identified by Reset was also broadcast before the local elections of November 5. They were promoting the candidates of Chance, a pro-Russian organization and clone of Shor, the old political group to which the exiled oligarch gave his name. If the Chance party was banned from participating in the elections before the vote, a Moldovan court recently reversed this decision.
The aim of the campaign is also to attack the European Union (EU) and the Moldovan government, at a time when the country bordering Ukraine is deploying new efforts towards rapprochement with the EU, and while the Commission European Union recently expressed itself in favor of opening negotiations for its accession. In October, the “Patriots of Moldova” page, for example, broadcast a video by Ilan Shor claiming that European monetary aid to the country was a lure and a trap, and that Moldova should develop on its own.
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