The video of the two men wrestling has been shared 41,000 times on Facebook, although the post was taken down on April 7, after WIRED brought it to the platform’s attention. The TikTok account that originally posted it was taken down overnight on April 6. Posts that are shared more than 10,000 times are very unusual for Moldova, a country of just 2.6 million people, says Pașa. Watchdog.MD estimates that of the 2.1 million adults living in Moldova’s government-controlled territory, just 1.4 million use Facebook regularly, and 315,000 use TikTok.
“I would define Moldova as being in the midst of an information war,” says Vadim Pistrinciuc, executive director at Chișinău-based think tank the Institute for Strategic Initiatives.
What the people behind this campaign do most is search for authentic content, which feeds their needs, says Pașa. Once that content has been identified, usually on TikTok, it is uploaded to Facebook where fake profiles spread the video across the platform, he adds.
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“Source: An ‘Explosion’ of Anti-Ukraine Disinformation Is Hitting Moldova | WIRED