Seven unclaimed Facebook pages paid over 60,000 euros in the first week of the campaign for ads against or in favor of certain candidates in the May 4th presidential elections: Most posts are anti-Nicușor Dan, but also anti-George Simion or anti-Crin Antonescu/Marcel Ciolacu. Several posts were sponsored for Victor Ponta and Elena Lasconi, in the role of „victims of the system.” Only two of the seven analyzed pages have been deleted.
- G4Media and Info Sud-Est analyzed public data from Meta (Facebook, Instagram) for the unclaimed pages that paid the most money for unmarked, sponsored posts with political content. The figures are valid for the period of April 5-12.
Seven unclaimed Facebook pages paid over 60,000 euros in the first week of the campaign on unmarked ads that run against some presidential candidates and in favor of others, according to an analysis of public information from Meta conducted by G4Media for the period of April 5-12. Only two of the seven pages have been deleted since the beginning of the campaign, with the rest remaining active.
Almost all posts are anti-Nicușor Dan and also contain misinterpreted or AI-generated messages, but there are also some anti-George Simion (AUR candidate), anti-Marcel Ciolacu (PSD), or anti-Crin Antonescu (candidate of the PSD-PNL-UDMR governing coalition, with the support of smaller parties) posts.
One of the pages promotes Victor Ponta after the floods scandal with a post paid for with 4000-4500 lei, which rolls out the idea of a „fabrication by the system” that was activated against Ponta.
The most money for a single post went to a video in which Elena Lasconi recounts how Nicușor Dan allegedly asked her to withdraw in favor of Nicolae Ciucă (almost 30,000 lei).
România în Focus
Has 13 paid posts in the April 5-12 period, the most among the analyzed pages.
The first post in this period was sponsored starting April 6th, and another 12 posts were sponsored on April 9th, the day after USR announced it was withdrawing its support for Elena Lasconi and supporting Nicușor Dan because, according to party leaders, internal polls showed the USR leader to be in 4th place, far behind the top three candidates.
The largest sum (15,000-20,000 lei) was paid by „România în focus” for distributing a post accompanied by the message „Nicușor, system manipulator,” with an impact of over 1 million users, in which Elena Lasconi tells journalist Ionuț Cristache how Nicușor Dan allegedly asked her „to go to Stejarii to discuss” and to withdraw from the presidential race in favor of Nicolae Ciucă (in 2024).
Another 7000-8000 lei were paid for a post in which Nicușor Dan and Marcel Ciolacu are accused of collusion and imposture, and Nicușor is called „Nicușoros”.
Another over 13,000 lei went to three posts in which George Simion, shown by the polls to be in first place, is labeled a „traitor” and appears in a photo with Marcel Ciolacu, an „illiterate,” although it is unclear whether a video with a disagreement voiced by the AUR leader is real or AI-generated. In another post, he is „detached” from Călin Georgescu, and a collage with sequences containing violence in which Simion participated is presented.
Between 10,000-15,000 lei were paid for a post in which Crin Antonescu gets up from a conference table and moves a chair, with the unproven message that he had consumed alcohol, although at first glance the clip does not seem real.
Out of the 13 posts on this page, 5 are about Dan, 4 refer to Simion, and another 4 are related to Crin Antonescu/Marcel Ciolacu.
Pulsul României
Has 5 paid posts in the mentioned period: one anti-Antonescu, one anti-Simion, two anti-Nicușor Dan, and one pro-Ponta.
The most money for a post (20,000-25,000 lei) was paid for a truncated video sequence in which Nicușor Dan is called „Nicușor Fundishor” and from which it appears that he supports „LGBT propaganda” in sex education classes.
Nicușor Dan has not taken a stance on official relationships between two people of the same sex but said that civil partnership between two people of the same sex is a topic „that society needs to debate.” Dan stated that he is in favor of introducing sex education in schools (without mentioning anything about LGBT) from the 6th and 7th grades.
The second most expensive post (15,000-20,000 lei) is also one taken out of context, in which Nicușor Dan appears to say, in an interview with Valeriu Nicolae, that he has been stupid very many times.
The next most paid post is one „victimizing” Victor Ponta, who „was allegedly attacked by Ciolacu’s bots” after the floods issue, a topic that is „a fabrication of the system.” Recently, Victor Ponta also posted on TikTok about how he was „attacked by bots” on the Chinese network. See details here.
Fluxdestiri
Has 8 sponsored posts starting April 5th.
On this page, the most money for a post (7000-8000 lei) went to a video about how Elena Lasconi, „the first USR candidate to reach the second round,” was „ousted” from the party leadership after the „pathetic people from USR” were convinced by Nicușor Dan to support him.
Another 2500-3000 lei were paid for an anti-George Simion post and the same amount for a post in which Crin Antonescu is criticized for displaying an electoral banner in Hungarian.
Out of the 8 posts, 6 are against Nicușor Dan, 1 anti-Simion, and 1 anti-Antonescu.
Diaspora Conectată
Has 8 sponsored posts in the first week of the campaign, 7 against Nicușor Dan, and one of them (paid with 2000-2500 lei) is the same as on the „România în focus” page, in which Elena Lasconi tells journalist Ionuț Cristache how Nicușor Dan allegedly asked her „to go to Stejarii to discuss” and to withdraw from the presidential race in favor of Nicolae Ciucă (in 2024).
The other post is anti-Antonescu (2500-3000 lei), the same as on „Fluxdeștiri,” in which the PSD-PNL-UDMR-Minorities candidate is criticized for displaying an electoral banner in Hungarian.
Toți pentru unul
The page has two sponsored posts in the analyzed period, both against Nicușor Dan, with criticisms of his activity as mayor of Bucharest, one of which contains AI-generated images.
The other two pages were „Oameni de AUR” (People of AUR) and „România pe primul loc” (Romania First), which have been deleted.
BEC Censorship
Journalist Cristian Pantazi showed in an editorial for G4Media how Romania has reached a critical moment for democracy after the Central Electoral Bureau (BEC) reinstated censorship on social media, misinterpreting, intentionally or not, an EU provision.
„Politically unaffiliated individuals, some known like Cristi Danileț or Adrian Papahagi, others not, are censored daily by the Central Electoral Bureau (BEC) based on a completely erroneous interpretation of European legislation. In the last ten days, the BEC has taken no fewer than 166 decisions requesting major social platforms to censor posts by certain individuals. The BEC, populated by individuals unknown to the general public, is transforming into an Orwellian institution that is planting the seeds of a drastic restriction of freedom of expression.
- What exactly is the the BEC doing? It asks major networks like Facebook or TikTok to delete posts through which various individuals express political opinions during the election campaign. The reason for the censorship request? The BEC considers these individuals to be ‘political actors,’ which would subject them to drastic regulations at European and local levels.
However, the premise from which the Central Electoral Bureau starts is simply wrong. The BEC invokes EU Regulation 900/2024 in all its decisions, which defines political actors and how they have the right to engage in political advertising extremely clearly. However, the very clear text of the EU Regulation shows that neither Danileț, nor Papahagi, nor dozens of other private individuals are political actors.”
Read the full article on G4Media.
30,000 Euros in Ads Against Nicușor Dan, Crin Antonescu, or George Simion, Three Months Before the Official Campaign
Context.ro journalists conducted a similar analysis published on April 9th, in which they showed how, on March 27th, four Facebook pages changed their names and began running videos on the Meta platform containing various attacks against presidential candidates George Simion, Crin Antonescu, and, most frequently, Nicușor Dan.
The pages spent a total of approximately 157,000 lei on sponsored posts for three months before the start of the official election campaign on April 4th.
„Ora de Constanța” (Constanța Hour), „Ora de Moldova” (Moldova Hour), „Ora de Oltenia” (Oltenia Hour) became „Pulsul României” (The Pulse of Romania), „Diaspora Conectată” (Connected Diaspora), and „Toți pentru unul” (All for One), and „Kuratenie generala” (General Cleaning) was renamed „România în Focus” (Romania in Focus) on March 27th, as shown by Context.ro.
According to details from the Meta platform, the pages have paid advertisements from the same user, who used an identical phone number when the posts were paid for. The same phone number was also used for the pro-Ponta posts sponsored by the „România pe primul loc” (Romania First) page, which has been deleted. Digi24.ro also wrote about this network of pages. Additionally, Expert Forum (EFOR) included these pages in its analysis of the financing of electoral competitors in the pre-campaign period. Read the full article on Context.ro.
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