Romania’s main intelligence agency on Monday alerted the public about a ‘coordinated online disinformation campaign’ about an explosion last week in a residential building that killed three and injured 14.
The Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) recommended people get their information from official sources, calling out fake news deliberately spread on social media and online.
The agency said that Romania, whose presidential elections were marred by alleged Russian meddling, needed to update its laws on disinformation.
“In recent days, in the online environment, especially on some social media, numerous conspiracy theories have circulated regarding the tragic event in the Rahova neighborhood. From initial data, there are elements that point to a coordinated disinformation campaign,” a message on the SRI’s official Facebook page said Monday.
A powerful explosion ripped through two stories of an apartment building in the Romanian capital on October 17 killing three people including a 21-year-old pregnant woman and injuring at least 14 others. The blast was caused by a gas leak. Distrigraz confirmed the previous day they had shut off a leak but the pipe appeared to have been turned back on. Prosecutors are investigating.
Romania is facing increased disinformation attacks, some of it connected to hostile foreign actors. Romanian institutions have stepped up a public awareness campaign to inform people, many of whom are ignorant they are victims of deliberate fake news.
In its message on Monday, the SRI drew “attention to the risk of spreading unverified messages from anonymous or uncredible sources” and recommends that people get their information only from official sources and verify the facts before sharing any content online.
The agency said that Romania needs to update its legislation on acts of disinformation and campaigns which threaten the safety of citizens.
“In this context, in relation to the current social realities, it becomes even more evident the need to update the normative framework, including the criminal one, in the field of disinformation, so that it allows the effective combating of the propagation of campaigns aimed at weakening the population’s trust in state institutions and encouraging phenomena that, in essence, threaten the safety of citizens by disseminating false messages, radical or extremist,” the message said.
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