{"id":208301,"date":"2024-10-01T15:13:47","date_gmt":"2024-10-01T12:13:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/watchdog.md\/?p=208301"},"modified":"2024-10-11T11:42:32","modified_gmt":"2024-10-11T08:42:32","slug":"campaniile-ilegale-de-promovare-a-oligarhilor-in-reducere-dar-nu-in-declin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/watchdog.md\/en\/analyzes\/208301\/campaniile-ilegale-de-promovare-a-oligarhilor-in-reducere-dar-nu-in-declin\/","title":{"rendered":"Analysis &#8211; How much did the oligarchs spend on online ads in August 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Author: Andrei Rusu<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Co-authors: Eugen Muravschi, Andrei Cur\u0103raru<\/em><\/p>\n<p>In August 2024, fugitive oligarchs Ilan \u0218or and Veaceslav Platon, with support from the Kremlin, ramped up their online disinformation campaigns targeting Moldova&#8217;s European path. The estimated cost of these campaigns, mainly conducted through advertisements on Facebook and Google, was <strong>\u20ac33,300<\/strong> between 1-30 August. They aimed to manipulate public opinion ahead of the presidential elections and the EU accession referendum, scheduled for October 20, 2024.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Main manipulative narratives:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>EU destroys national identity:<\/strong> The authors claim that the accession to the EU will erode Moldova&#8217;s cultural heritage, contrasting with Russia, which allegedly protects national identity.<\/li>\n<li><strong>EU drives Moldova into debt:<\/strong> The narrative suggests that financial aid from the EU represents loans that will burden future generations.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Energy crisis caused by EU:<\/strong> The narrative accuses the EU of Moldova\u2019s high energy prices, promoting Russia as a cheaper energy source.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Russia, as Moldova\u2019s strategic partner:<\/strong> The narrative promotes the idea that Moldova\u2019s prosperity and security depend on close ties with Russia, minimizing the threats posed by Moscow.<\/li>\n<li><strong>EU membership is pointless:<\/strong> The campaigns aim to convince the public that Moldova will never be accepted into the EU and that the referendum is merely a PR manoeuvre by President Maia Sandu.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These campaigns seek to undermine Moldova\u2019s pro-European trajectory, destabilize the political climate, and erode trust in State institutions. . The insufficient actions of Facebook and Google in countering these manipulative advertisements allow the continued influence on Moldova\u2019s public discourse. In collaboration with civil society, Moldova&#8217;s authorities must intensify efforts to combat disinformation, actively informing the public and urging tech platforms to prevent electoral interference.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><a href=\"https:\/\/watchdog.md\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Analysis-How-much-did-the-oligarchs-spend-on-online-ads-in-August-2024.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Open the analysis here<\/strong>.<\/a><\/h2>\n<p><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Author: Andrei Rusu Co-authors: Eugen Muravschi, Andrei Cur\u0103raru In August 2024, fugitive oligarchs Ilan \u0218or and Veaceslav Platon, with support from the Kremlin, ramped up their online disinformation campaigns targeting Moldova&#8217;s European path. The estimated cost of these campaigns, mainly conducted through advertisements on Facebook and Google, was \u20ac33,300 between 1-30 August. They aimed to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208303,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-208301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analyzes","category-slider"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchdog.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchdog.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchdog.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchdog.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchdog.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/watchdog.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208301\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchdog.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchdog.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchdog.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchdog.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}