From paid ads to AI-generated clips, Moldova’s information space faces unprecedented manipulation ahead of the 2025 elections.
The digital battlefield in Moldova is heating up. As the September elections draw closer, disinformation campaigns are becoming more sophisticated, blending paid political ads, AI-generated content, and coordinated cross-platform narratives. FACT Hub partners are tracking these developments in real time.
1.Paid Ads: The Ilan Shor Network Dominates
Source: WatchDog.md
The first line of attack comes from the concentration of resources within the Ilan Shor network. Between April 30 and July 28, WatchDog.md documented that the Russian Federation, through Shor’s political machine and associated local actors, sponsored more than 1,500 advertisements on META platforms with an estimated budget of €45,000. On YouTube, Shor and Natalia Morari placed at least 319 ads, though the true cost of that campaign is difficult to establish. What makes this wave of paid messaging significant is its reliance on proxy nodes such as MD24, which alone carried nearly 70% of Shor’s ads before they were removed by META.
This approach allows the network to fragment risk across multiple accounts and pages, ensuring that even when one channel is dismantled, the machinery of distribution continues uninterrupted. The result is an advertising ecosystem carefully designed to obscure its origins and maximise its reach.
2.AI-Generated Propaganda Floods TikTok
Source: Context.ro
At the same time, another front has opened on TikTok. A Context.ro investigation revealed a bubble of 128 accounts activated during the campaign, nearly all of which rely on AI-generated video content. In just two months, these accounts published over 6,000 clips, one-third of which carried disinformation or inflammatory narratives.
Among the most widely circulated claims was the false assertion that Moldova’s elections would be cancelled, despite the absence of any credible evidence. The use of artificial intelligence here is not incidental; it is central to the strategy, enabling rapid, low-cost content production at a scale that overwhelms both fact-checkers and platform moderation mechanisms. In effect, the TikTok feeds of Moldovan voters are being saturated with synthetic content designed to erode trust and amplify fear.
Over the last nine months, these accounts have published more than 10,000 TikToks, with 2,000 containing malicious content.
Read the full Context investigation here
3. Transnistria Narratives Amplified Across Platforms
Source: European Narrative Observatory (PROMPT)
In collaboration with the European Narrative Observatory (PROMPT), FACT has also tracked the deliberate amplification of Transnistria-related narratives across platforms. These messages seek to delegitimise the electoral process by claiming that the government is disenfranchising pro-Russian or ethnic minority voters in Transnistria, while pointing to the expansion of diaspora voting in the European Union as evidence of bias.
The campaign reached its peak in mid-August 2025, when identical or semantically similar posts circulated on Telegram, Twitter/X, Facebook, TikTok, and a variety of websites. What distinguishes this operation is the precision of its coordination: the slogan “Transnistrians deprived of voting rights” spread in an 18-hour window, a pattern consistent with strategic narrative shaping rather than organic public discourse. The scale and cross-platform nature of this activity demonstrates how manipulation is no longer confined to a single channel but moves seamlessly through the wider digital ecosystem.
4. Democratic Resilience: Moldovan President Maia Sandu referenced FACT research in her address to the European Parliament, September 9th
“And on social media, a Romanian think tank found that just 100 coordinated accounts promoted videos with 13 million views in a single month. Their comments — thousands of lines copied word for word — reflect manipulation, not genuine debate,” Source: presedinte.md
5. Candidates spread joyful conspiracies on TikTok
During the first two weeks of the campaign, some candidates for a spot in the Moldovan Parliament spread conspiracies and disinformation on TikTok. The narrative spans from loss of sovereignty, fear of war, to the classic tune of “Enemy” by Soros. Context.ro analyzed the content of videos posted by candidates on TikTok and extracted the main false and conspiratorial theories launched since the beginning of the campaign. More details here.
