On March 7, Facebook removed a network of four Romanian Facebook pages, 26 Facebook accounts, and a public Facebook group. @DFRLab had an exclusive look at the inauthentic Facebook pages and the group, all of which promoted highly biased content in favor of Romania’s ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD) or denigrated politicians of the opposition.

According to Facebook, the removed assets shared “divisive narratives and promoted content hosted by several domains that present themselves as news sites.” Each removed Facebook page linked to an affiliated “news” domain, whose biased articles were predominantly shared among official PSD Facebook pages.

@DFRLab’s analysis suggests a degree of coordination among the Facebook pages, their affiliated news domains, and the Facebook group, as revealed by similarities in post activity, political bias, and domain analytics.

Facebook also removed an inauthentic network of at least 15 pages and two groups with an intended audience in the United Kingdom, on which @DFRLab also reported.

Social Democrats in Distress

Romania has recently drawn increased attention for its internal politics as well as its strained relations with the broader European Union. The country is currently gearing up for its presidential elections in late 2019, in which current President Klaus Iohannis (former leader of the center-right National Liberty Party, PNL) is eligible for re-election. In terms of EU relations, Romania recently took over the EU’s rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union, a position it will hold until June 30, 2019.

The EU, however, recently accused the Romanian government of stalling its efforts to combat corruption. An EU communique urged the country to reform its judicial system and appoint a new anti-corruption prosecutor. Romania’s former chief anti-corruption prosecutor, Laura Codruța Kövesi, spearheaded various anti-corruption initiatives that jailed prominent former politicians, including high-ranking PSD members. She was later dismissed from her post.

Within this context, the four removed Facebook pages and the removed group served to spread highly positive articles regarding PSD, its policies, and its politicians, while denigrating politicians from other parties.

Removing the Facebook Pages

Three of the four Romanian Facebook pages were created within a week, on December 26, 2018 (De Stânga, translation from Romanian: “On the left”) and December 20, 2018 (Momentulzero, Pe Rele.ro). The page ANTI FAKE News was created earlier that year, on September 11. In its “About” section, Momentulzero categorized itself as “Media”, whereas De Stânga and ANTI FAKE News categorized themselves as “News & Media Website”. Pe Rele.ro categorized itself as “Just For Fun.”

Each Facebook page provided a link to a “news” website with the same name. None of the pages displayed a blue or grey badge that Facebook uses to mark verified pages.

Logos of the four Romanian Facebook pages taken down by Facebook. (Source: @DFRLab via Facebook)

Besides ANTI FAKE News, Momentulzero also claimed to combat “fake news,” while De Stânga referred to itself as “real news.”

The “About” section of the Momentulzero page. (Source: Facebook/archive).

Altogether, the four Facebook pages accumulated 1,550 followers. Momentulzero collected the most likes (806) and followers (817). The remaining three pages amassed lower numbers of likes and followers, with Pe Rele.ro garnering the least likes (182) and followers (182). These numbers suggest that the Facebook pages had limited reach.

Spreading Bias

The content published on all four Facebook pages displayed a strong bias in favor of Romania’s PSD party. This bias did not escape some of the pages’ Facebook followers.

Facebook user pointing out the biased political orientation of Momentulzero. (Source: Facebook/archive)

The Facebook pages predominantly shared articles from their corresponding news outlets, mostly praising PSD politicians such as Viorica Dăncilă, the Prime Minister of Romania, and Liviu Dragnea, the leader of the PSD party and President of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies. At the same time, the pages shared inflammatory, denigrating, or derisive content on opposing party members.

The Facebook pages mostly targeted President Iohannis and Laura Codruța Kövesi. While generally refraining from publishing content openly in favor of the PSD, Pe Rele.ro largely focused on spreading derisive commentary directed at the opposition, particularly the current president and Codruța Kövesi.

Laura Codruța Kövesi photoshopped into handcuffs. (Source: Pe Rele.ro/archive)

The “news” domains affiliated with the Facebook pages (Momentulzero.ro, Destanga.ro, Perele.ro, Antifakenews.ro) further reflected the Facebook pages’ extreme bias in favor of the PSD party and mockery toward non-PSD politicians. Using CrowdTangle, a tool that provides social-media metrics for articles and media outlets, @DFRLab found that articles from the four domains were predominantly referenced in posts of Facebook pages clearly affiliated with the PSD party or Facebook pages targeting the current President. Similar to their affiliated Facebook pages, the domains did not officially state a party affiliation.

Top referrals for DeStanga.ro. (Source: @DFRLab via CrowdTangle)

Top referrals for Antifakenews.ro. (Source: @DFRLab via CrowdTangle)

Top referrals for Momentulzero.ro. (Source: @DFRLab via CrowdTangle)

Top referrals for Perele.ro. Translated from Romanian, “DEMISIA IOHANNIS” means “RESIGNATION IOHANNES.” As illustrated, De Stânga, one of the four Facebook pages, also shared content from Perele.ro. (Source: @DFRLab via CrowdTangle)

@DFRLab used whois.net to determine the domain registrars of the websites. Two of the domains, Antifakenews.ro and Perele.ro, were both registered by TES Euro Media SRL, suggesting a link between the two domains. Analyzing the domains on dnslytics.com, @DFRLab found that three domains (all except Perele.ro) shared the same Google Adserver ID. This implies that all advertisement revenue from the three domains is funneled to a single account, further suggesting a connection between the domains. Facebook confirmed that the pages paid $650 USD in spending for advertisements on Facebook, paid for in U.S. Dollars, Euros, and Romanian Leu.