2024 marks the biggest electoral year yet for Romania, with European, local, parliamentary and presidential polls scheduled to take place on the background of significant domestic and global challenges, with the potential to further destabilise and polarise society. The rise of far-right and right-wing populists, correlated with a surge of disinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war, has reached an otherwise politically overlooked segment of the population – young people. Feeling unrepresented and severed from the political discourse, Romanian youth is at significant risk of radicalisation, being particularly vulnerable to extremist voices that aim to capitalise on their frustrations and disengagement, while leveraging their preferred channels of information and communication with increasing efficiency. Social media and youth susceptibility to online echo chambers and influencers provide pathway for manipulation by malicious actors whose political agenda aligns – more often than not – with the Kremlin’s (anti-EU, anti-NATO, anti-Ukraine, pro-Russia).
Despite the rise of TikTok and discussions about “freer” platforms such as MeWe or Telegram, Facebook remains the main platform for political debates in Romania. Facebook is also the platform for initiating radicalization. Radical channels on Facebook work to attract people with moderate opinions or those who are not politically socialized online, radicalize them, and then try to transfer them to other platforms.
In this – apparently favourable – environment, Diana Șoșoacă, far-right MP and outspoken Kremlin supporter, has experienced a spectacular drop in audience, from 22 million monthly views to mere thousands in just a few months.
The present report illustrates the growing import of fringe content and voices into mainstream media with a case study of the cooperation between arguably mainstream Realitatea TV/ Realitatea Plus (in particular the show Behind the Scenes of the Parallel State with Anca Alexandrescu) and the fringe one-man-show Luis Lazarus Zeus TV (one of the most influential promoters of far-right, anti-vaccine and Kremlin-aligned narratives)The present report illustrates the growing import of fringe content and voices into mainstream media with a case study of the cooperation between arguably mainstream Realitatea TV/ Realitatea Plus (in particular the show Behind the Scenes of the Parallel State with Anca Alexandrescu) and the fringe one-man-show Luis Lazarus Zeus TV (one of the most influential promoters of far-right, anti-vaccine and Kremlin-aligned narratives).