ANCOM: cloned sites of public and press institutions. Indices related to Russian involvement in misinformation operation
The network of fake accounts identified by ANCOM photo: ANCOM
The National Authority for Administration and Regulation in Communications (ANCOM) has announced that a network of cloned, Doppelganger type sites has been identified, which mimics the image of the official internet pages of public institutions, as well as of media bodies, including HotNews. Through them, a deceitful content is promoted, with indications regarding the involvement of some direct -related advertising companies with Russia.
“A network of cloned sites has been identified, which just mimics the image of the official websites of some public institutions, televisions and important press agencies (the Government of Romania, the Ministry of Health, TVR 1, Digi24, Hotnews, Adevărul, Freedom), used to promote the deceitful content, on the social, political, of its perception ”, says in an ANCOM statement.
The authority argues that it is a complex operation, “below the limit of anomalies detection”, which uses tactics such as the exploitation of social media algorithms, the use of content generated by AI, the establishment of subliminal narratives, the use of ads adapted to the specific of vulnerable audiences, as well as trans-sectorial activities to activate some society.
Vulnerable audiences to misinformation
The infrastructure thus created is used to establish vulnerable audiences in misinformation and calibration of messages according to these niches.
The graphic representation of the way of carrying out the misinformation campaign can be accessed in the document below:
“These influence actions do not aim to promote specific entities, but to amplify at the level of the collective mind of some social, economic and political dissatisfaction with the purpose of polarizing society and decreasing the population trust in the public authorities, thus limiting the capacity to react of the state, respectively the influence of decisions at national level,” says ANCOM.
The misinformation campaign is carried out by non -authorizing pages and accounts on a social media platform with a coordinated level of posts and content to determine a very high interaction. The pages present content generated by AI, with topics that have a strong emotional impact.
“Links have been identified that redirect users to the aforementioned cloned pages, through malicious advertisements, used as” trampolines “, present on local sites, especially of clickbait type (eg: cezicelumea.ro, sources.eu sticalitative.ro, dromania.ro, edactia.ro, viralnewagazin.ro, lendermagazin.ro, etc.).
ANCOM mentions that, for example, ADNOW is investigated in several EU states for involvement in operations in favor of Russia's intelligence services.
“The investigations and checks are in progress, following the establishment and unavailability of the entire digital infrastructure that supports the presented ecosystem, respectively identifying and taking liability of the entities involved. To avoid misleading through the exposed mechanism, it is recommended that the official websites of the public institutions or the media”
