The police of Moldova reported on August 13 that they are intensifying the fight against disinformation on the Internet. Law enforcement officials have sent official requests to the administration of the TikTok platform to block 443 channels containing thousands of videos, which they accused of spreading disinformation that “affects national security and the stability of society.” The news is reported by NewsMaker.
Moldovan police said that they discovered about a hundred channels on TikTok that spread fakes about the participation of Moldova and the Moldovan military in the war in Ukraine.
Law enforcement officers have already blocked more than half of these channels. In addition, the police managed to identify 12 channels that spread false information about the alleged falsification of the parliamentary elections. Seven of them were blocked.
Law enforcement officers also discovered 130 channels involved in spreading fakes about representatives of the Moldovan authorities and state bodies, and another 97 channels that spread disinformation related to the politics of the ruling party and participated in inciting hatred and violence. About a hundred such channels have already been blocked.
“The identified 443 TikTok channels have a total of more than 1.2 million subscribers and more than 4.5 million views. This indicates the scale of the risk created by these sources of disinformation. DDisinformation poses a significant threat to national stability and security, and combating it remains one of the main priorities for state bodies,” the police noted, urging citizens to rely solely on official and trustworthy sources of information.
Earlier, the party of Moldovan President Maia Sandu, “Action and Solidarity” (PAS), announced the launch of a campaign of intimidating phone calls in the country allegedly on their behalf and sees this as a Russian trace.
IIn late July, President Maia Sandu convened a meeting of the Supreme Security Council to discuss the risks posed by Russian interference in the elections. The president stated that Moscow is preparing an unprecedented intervention through voter bribery, disinformation, cyberattacks, the organization of paid protests, etc.
