As we step into the new year, this edition of the FACT Newsletter looks back at the final months of 2025, a period that underscored how information manipulation adapts and crosses borders. From global investigative exchanges to election-focused online analyses and in-depth reporting on wartime disinformation, our partners closed the year by mapping how influence operations evolve across platforms and political contexts. These updates capture our latest efforts in understanding disinformation at year’s end and sets the tone for the work ahead.
FACT hub at GIJC 2025: Sharing Investigative Practices on Russian Information Operations
As the lead of the consortium that develops the FACT hub, Context.ro shared some of the good practices in investigating Russian information operations during the Global Investigative Journalism Conference 2025, held this year in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is the first time the world’s largest international gathering of investigative journalists takes place in Asia. The conference brought together reporters from across the globe for advanced training on investigative tools, cutting-edge workshops, and intensive exchanges on how to expose abuses of power and complex influence operations.
As part of the panel Journalistic Collaborations in Challenging Environments, with an audience of over 30 investigative reporters and experts, Attila Biro from Context.ro detailed the collaborative workflow used in the region to investigate algorithmic manipulation, highlighting the benefits of cross-border cooperation and cross-disciplinary approaches when tackling large-scale disinformation operations.
Hybrid Interference in Moldova: Insights for the Political Tech Community
The findings from the coverage of Moldova’s elections were also presented in an online debate on 11 December, hosted by Partisan.community, the first European political tech summit. The session, Political Tech Review: Hybrid Interference in the Moldovan Elections, brought together Attila Biro (Context.ro / OCCRP), Andra-Lucia Martinescu, and Marius Dima, moderated by Josef Lentsch, to examine how coordinated, cross-platform networks shaped political messaging and targeted diaspora voters during Moldova’s 2025 parliamentary elections.
Read our coverage of the Moldova Elections on our website: https://fact-hub.eu/moldova/
Bucharest Elections 2025: Signals of Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior on TikTok
In December, Expert Forum published a detailed analytical report for the FACT hub on the online dynamics of the 2025 Bucharest mayoral elections, focusing on TikTok. The analysis documents patterns consistent with coordinated inauthentic behavior that disproportionately amplified content in support of Daniel Băluță. Based on a dataset of 601 videos published in November by 46 potentially inauthentic accounts, the report finds that more than 70% of the most visible content associated with the candidate originated from this network, despite the accounts’ limited and atypical follower profiles. While the study does not assess electoral impact, it raises questions about platform governance, transparency in online campaigning, and compliance with Romanian and EU rules on political advertising. Explore the full findings of the analysis on our website: https://fact-hub.eu/the-elections-for-bucharest-2025-on-tiktok/
Weaponizing Mobilization: Russian Disinformation Targeting Ukraine
An investigation published by The Kyiv Independent examines how Russian disinformation campaigns increasingly exploit Ukraine’s mobilization process as a strategic vulnerability in a prolonged war. Authored by Tania Myronyshena, the article traces how false claims—such as a fabricated ruling allegedly allowing citizens to shoot recruitment officers—were amplified across Russian media to sow fear, delegitimize state institutions, and erode public trust. Drawing on insights from fact-checkers at StopFake and disinformation analysts, the piece shows how half-truths, emotional narratives, and AI-generated content are used to blur the line between legitimate criticism and hostile information attacks, with documented spillover into real-world violence. The analysis highlights mobilization as a long-term target of information warfare, underscoring how systemic challenges, if left unaddressed, can be deliberately weaponized by hostile actors.
Read the full article: https://fact-hub.eu/how-russias-propaganda-machine-weaponizes-mobilization-in-ukraine/
As we move further into the year, these investigations remind us that disinformation is not a passing disruption, but a persistent feature of today’s political and security landscape. Addressing it requires sustained collaboration, rigorous analysis, and independent journalism that can connect local signals to broader patterns. In the months ahead, the FACT hub will continue to bring together journalists, researchers, and civil society actors across borders to document emerging influence operations, share investigative practices, and strengthen public understanding of how information manipulation works and how it can be challenged.
Thank you for following our work and being part of this shared effort!
