The online space was exposed to excessive politicization during the electoral campaign for the February 24 parliamentary elections, and this reduced the user’s confidence in the published information. These are some of the findings made by the Youth Development for Innovation Foundation in a monitoring report, which suggests that a legal framework is needed to regulate the online activity of electoral competitors.
Livia Țurcanu, co-author of the monitoring report, said that fake news, irony and posts with offensive language were common in the online environment. For example, a YouTube video called “The Chronicle of Moldova’s Destruction” was posted and later taken down from Youtube and Facebook by the Socialist Party, where the creators used many labels and hate speech with the purpose of dramatizing the subject.
Livia Țurcanu added that denigrating language against electoral rivals was also used by politicians. For example, Ilan Shor made remarks that were condemned by many as totally inappropriate. Inappropriate remarks were also made by Speaker Andrian Candu.
According to the January Public Opinion Barometer, almost 20% of respondents mentioned the Internet as a source of information, while in 2016 the percentage was close to 28%. Experts blame this decrease on the circulation of a great deal of irrelevant, fake, denigrating content on social networks during election campaigns, and users tend to no longer trust what is being posted.
Mihai Mogildea, another co-author of the report, said the number of Internet users is rising and the state authorities that coordinate the electoral actions have to pay attention to this issue. Restrictive provisions are required for social networks and electronic platforms used by candidates.
The report was published as part of the "Monitoring online electoral activity" project, implemented between October 2018 and March 2019, with the support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.
