A report by the Centre for Strategic Communication and Countering Disinformation (CCSCD), cited by IPN, describes a mechanism through which critical narratives about the Moldovan government circulate between foreign and domestic information spaces.
According to the report, actors promote critical messages about Moldova through European publications with pro-Russian affiliations and then reintroduce those messages locally as if they represent independent Western media analysis.
The report highlights the French publication Omerta as one example. In April 2026, it published articles portraying Moldova as a state controlled from abroad and describing it as a “geopolitical laboratory” influenced by Western interests. The same texts also used terms such as “mafia” and “organised crime” in reference to the country’s leadership.
Researchers say that these articles did not remain only in external media but later circulated within Moldova as supposedly independent Western confirmations. As a result, the narratives gained additional credibility by being framed as European media opinions.
The CCSCD report also documents how these narratives spread further through social media. It identifies amplification via Facebook pages and accounts previously linked to coordinated content distribution, as well as TikTok accounts, which reposted and repackaged the material.
The centre describes this process as “external validation,” in which hostile narratives first appear in a controversial foreign outlet and are then reused in the domestic information space to increase perceived legitimacy.
The report further warns that using a French-language outlet may be intentional and that such techniques can influence not only domestic perceptions but also Moldova’s international image, potentially shaping how the country is viewed within EU member states.