[ - In a recent meeting of the Press Club, you said that the social networking services are massively used for political purposes. Can you provide details: how it is done? what are the purposes? how much does it cost?] - The online social utilities changed our lives. They are very important. There are about half a million people in Moldova using social network services and this is a large figure. On the one hand, such social utilities as “facebook”, “odnoklasniki”, and “faces” allow the people to interact in a different way. It is also a modality of manipulating those using them. There are people who spend more time on the Internet than in the real life. They are voters, consumers of information and the success that can be obtained through social network services depends on the ability to promote the political parties. All the parties are present on “facebook” and on “onoklasniki”. The politicians are present. [ - Do they have legalized organizations?] - I don’t think so. But this is not obligatory. They disseminate messages. I follow what’s happening on facebook. The candidates running in elections in Chisinau are all present on facebook. Through the social utilities one can say what cannot be said in a news conference. One can produce an informal reaction that can often have a greater impact than a well thought out public statement with clear messages. Igor Dodon for example is actively using the online social utilities. It seems to me that he started a project to promote the social networking service and the own blog through the electronic media a year ago. I think he became popular not owing to the post of Deputy Prime Minister. Not many people can now say who the Deputy Prime Minister is. The people started to know him and formulated opinions about him from his messages and reactions to public events published on the Internet. The opinions are either positive or negative, but this is separate topic for discussion. In the statement I made in the meeting of the Press Club, I referred mainly to the forums and different websites where there are published comments. Most of the times, these comments are placed by persons who serve the interests of a political party and this is evident. Nobody denies it. At least the largest parties have persons who are responsible for publishing messages on forums and commenting on them. To the people that do not know the shady sides, these opinions look objective and represent the viewpoint of an ordinary person who read an article by chance and expressed his position. In reality, this is manipulation of the public opinion and attempt to impose a certain perception and opinion on the consumer of information. [ - Can a politician be destroyed like this or is such a goal set?] - The objectives are different – to discredit a message, to support a message, to substitute a subject for discussion. The manipulation technology is diverse and this is a battlefield for the political parties. This will become more obvious towards the end of the election campaign. You will see that the articles that have nothing to do with the political affairs will start to contain messages in favor of a candidate or another. Let’s look at the advertisements stuck on billboards and poles. Everybody says that they do not have an effect. The specialists say so too! However, the parties compete in sticking ads. Representatives of the parties put the advertisements one above the other and can fight between them for places on the billboards. But few people vote for a candidate because they saw his or her face on the pole. In realty, this is a political battlefield and the parties use it to the maximum. [ - To what extent are the state institutions involved in these activities?] - I read somewhere that the social network services are created by special services that control them. When one has control over such utilities, they have unlimited access to correspondence. There are very interesting details. I believe that the secret services in our country deal with rumor spreading. Elsewhere, the services also manipulate the public opinion formed through the agency of rumors, one way or another. The rumors are very pertinent, especially in such weak societies as ours. They are manipulation elements that together with other elements used within a wider strategy can manipulate the public opinion and contribute to forming a totally different view on a certain event. [ - Can the things we are discussing now shed light on the April 7, 2009 events?] - I think the April 7 subject will continue to be discussed until we have persons in public posts who can be blackmailed over those events and the truth will not come out. Many of those who could cast light on the April 2009 events are blackmailed over their involvement in those events. [ - Do you support my thesis expressed in analysis and comments, according to which both of the sides were involved in those events {but they agreed a pact of silence?}] - I think you are right that more than one side was involved in those events. I mean not only the former Opposition and former administration. The secret services and circles form outside were also engaged. There are many details that will remain topics for discussion and speculation, but I don’t know when they will become evidence in a legal case. [Valeriu Vasilica, Info-Prim Neo]