The Election Code should be supplemented with punitive provisions concerning violations committed by election contestants in the online sphere, suggest representatives of the Foundation Youth Development for Innovation, which monitored the electoral behavior on this dimension. The organization’s second report, which covers the period between January 29 and February 9, ascertains that the fake news, fabricated or satirical content and propagandistic materials were massively present in the Internet.
In a news conference at IPN, Livia Țurcanu, one of the authors of the report, said the instruments for manipulating the public opinion online were diverse, from the presentation of incorrect information up to the amplification of rumors. An example is the “news” that the Republic of Moldova started to accept migrants from Asian countries whom the EU refused to accept. The report was based on the statements made by the head of the Children’s Rights Protection Division Lucia Caciuc in a meeting at the Chisinau City Hall. She said that two minors from Bangladesh who were found on the border were accommodated at a placement center.
According to Livia Țurcanu, the leader of the Party “Action and Solidarity” Maia Sandu also became the target of rumors and manipulating reports in the election campaign. There was also noted the distribution of materials in a mistaken context. A number of recently created webpages distributed videos with sequences taken from other periods, suggesting that they reveal something authentic. Several pages that were later erased from Facebook promoted a series of videos addressing Russian language speakers, which targeted the PDM, the Shor Party and the bloc ACUM.
The author of the report said she often met satirical content in the online environment. Even if it seems that these videos were made to ironize, they can have a major effect on the opinion of voters. It was also established that the electoral players and political parties distributed false or manipulative content. There were used labels and hate speech and political opponents were marginalized. In this connection, it was given the example of the news conference given by Socialist candidate Bogdan Ţîrdea, where this accused NATO of bringing Moldova’s budget to its knees and where he said that 70% of the Moldovans are against NATO.
Livia Țurcanu noted the denigrating messages against other election runners were widely spread. An example is the dispute between the leader of the Shor Party Ilan Shor and the candidate of ACUM in Orhei Valeriu Munteanu, where Shor used denigrating language against Munteanu. The vice president of the PDM Andrian Candu also used denigrating language, calling ACUM the bloc of the unemployed. “Such content should not be present in the election campaign as the parties and candidates sign a code of conduct by which they should abide in debates online and offline,” she stated.
Report co-author Mihai Mogîldea said punitive provisions should be added to the Election Code, but the border between what is allowed and what is not should be clearly set. “We consider such measures will contribute to a diminution in the number of messages with denigrating content, sexist messages, etc.” he stated.
The report was compiled as part of the project “Monitoring online electoral activity - Parliamentary elections 2019” that is implemented with support from the Swiss Agency or Development and Cooperation between October 2018 and March 2019.
