Moldova Social Network Spreading Russian Propaganda, Study Says

A major social network in Moldova is being used to spread Russian propaganda, according to a study made public on Friday by the Institute for Public Policy and developed in the framework of a project funded by the German Marshall Fund.

The authors of the research analyzed 1,139 messages posted on the Russian-language Odnoklassniki site and concluded that 57 per cent of them were propaganda messages.

Of that figure, 38 per cent were open propaganda, while 19 per cent had hidden or subliminal propaganda content.

Many of them promoted Kremlin policies in the region or were anti-EU, anti-Ukraine and anti-NATO, while some messages incited hatred and violence.

Romania is also often targeted on Odnoklassniki with hostile messages, as are centre-right parties that favour the EU and US.

A post entitled "Will war in Transnistria begin in 2017?" was one of the most popular in August 2017 in a large group called "For The Eurasian Union - Prosperity for Moldova", which had 33,500 members.

That news came alongside a photo of Russian General Aleksandr Lebedev, who conducted Russian forces in 1992 in the brief war between Moldova and breakaway Transnistria, saying: "Tomorrow, I will have breakfast in Tiraspol, and if only one bullet is fired in Transnistria, I will have lunch in Chisinau, and dinner - in Bucharest."

The research was conducted between January and August 2017.

Odnoklassniki until last year was the top social network in Moldova judging by the number of users. However, it fell in the ratings by 25 per cent from 1.1 million users in 2016 to 885,860 in 2017, allowing Facebook to take the first place.

Still, in August 2017, Odnoklassniki was the most popular website in Moldova, with over one million unique visitors,...