A TikTok video featuring actor Brian Baumgartner from the American version of The Office surfaced, calling for the overthrow of the president of a small European country, signaling that the upcoming election would be unusual. Late in the previous year, Baumgartner appeared alongside other American celebrities in videos addressed to Maia Sandu, the pro-European president of Moldova. In poorly spoken Russian, they declared their support for the Moldovan people in their quest to overthrow Sandu. According to researchers, these videos, which were not deepfakes, were part of a pro-Kremlin influence operation. They were commissioned on Cameo, an app that allows individuals to purchase personalized greetings from celebrities. Requests for comments from Cameo and Baumgartner’s representatives to WIRED went unanswered.
For several years, Moldova, a country with a size comparable to the US state of Maryland and located between the EU and Ukraine, has reported instances of Russian interference. Recently, as this former Soviet state gears up for a crucial presidential vote and a referendum on EU membership, it has become an example of how major social media platforms can be manipulated to orchestrate a complex disinformation campaign around controversial societal issues.
Since the conflict erupted in neighboring Ukraine two years ago, bots have been actively searching the Moldovan internet for authentic content to amplify to larger audiences, such as videos depicting misbehavior by Ukrainian refugees. Ordinary Moldovans have reported that their Facebook feeds are being flooded with political, often anti-government ads from pages with Vietnamese names. A year later, researchers estimated that Meta had generated at least $200,000 from a pro-Kremlin ad campaign targeting Moldova. Russia’s foreign ministry did not provide a comment to WIRED.
Ana Revenco, Moldova’s former interior minister and current head of the country’s Center for Strategic Communication and Combating Disinformation, describes the situation as unprecedented in complexity. She warns that the events in Moldova on platforms like Facebook, Telegram, TikTok, and YouTube could serve as a caution to the global community. Revenco believes that these platforms are not only being exploited in Moldova and suggests that if Russia can utilize them there, they can do so anywhere.
Ahead of the upcoming vote on Sunday, accounts associated with Russia have intensified their activities, according to Revenco. She explains that these accounts, which were created long ago, are being activated, engaging bots, and synchronizing posts across multiple platforms.
