False narratives related to Romania getting plundered by the European Union, the destruction of Christianity (Orthodoxy in particular), support for Ukraine and climate change, as well as anti-Semitic propaganda and conspiracy theories regarding the so-called “sanitary dictatorship” generated most of the disinformation theses and fake news that circulated in Romania throughout 2025, many of which were amplified and linked with the annulment of the presidential election of December 2024. The self-styled sovereignist extremist spectrum continued its ongoing electoral campaign, accusing the establishment of installing a dictatorship in Romania through a coup d'état. As a novelty in 2025, with Donald Trump's return to the White House, the USA ceased to be the main enemy of Romanian nationalists, their attention being redirected towards France and its president Emmanuel Macron, identified as Romania's new colonizers.
In certain cases, the false narratives in question originated in Romania, but most often it was a matter of taking over and/or adapting disinformation theses to local narratives that have external actors as their source, especially Russia, certain political currents from the West (the alt-right area, the radical left) or conspiracist circles.
These false narratives were promoted in Romania on/by different media channels, such as Activenews, Național, Ortodoxinfo, Gândul, R3Media or the “network of lies” coordinated by the extremist party AUR, but also through television and radio stations (Realitatea TV, România TV, Gold FM, etc.). The Internet and social media were used both to amplify false narratives and, more often than not, as their direct sources. The list of people who launched/took over/amplified such false narratives includes a series of generally controversial figures who worked in the media or at least claim that much (Ion Cristoiu, Iosefina Pascal, Sorin Roșca Stănescu, Cozmin Gușă, Anca Alexandrescu), are or have been involved in politics (Diana Șoșoacă, George Simion, Gheorghe Piperea, Adrian Severin, Petrișor Peiu, etc.) or, finally, fall into a more vaguely defined category of influencers – Dan Diaconu, tiktokers Makaveli, BobbyD, etc.
Top 5 disinformation narratives
Romania is a French colony, while the decisions of the current ruling coalition depend exclusively on Paris's approval, which, after manipulating the presidential election of May 2025, appointed its own people in key state positions. The narrative is part of an entire propaganda arsenal set up by Russia against France, “its main adversary in Europe”, according to statements by Vladimir Putin himself. It seeks to destabilize the defense of NATO's Eastern Flank, France being the country that holds command of NATO's Enhanced Forward Presence Battlegroup in Romania, and which also co-chairs the “Coalition of the Willing for Ukraine”, jointly with the United Kingdom.
Claims that Romania has become a dictatorship add to, but at the same time, also exclude the previous narrative, in a chaotic mixture of disinformation narratives and fake news, which sometimes claim that the current lawmakers constantly trample democracy, and sometimes that, in fact, the “dictatorial regime in Bucharest” is controlled by secret forces, some from Paris, others from Brussels, others probably directly from Hell.
Population control by means of vaccines and medical procedures “dictated” by the World Health Organization remained in 2025 one of the favorite narratives of Romanian conspiracists, aligned with the meta-narrative that claims a “global cabal” continues its plan to enslave the world population through health policies and environmental policies. Thus, actions undertaken to reduce pollution are described as instruments by means of which humanity will be imprisoned in large-scale camps, without the possibility of traveling more than a few kilometers from home. At the same time, non-compliance with the regulations imposed by the globalist elites will lead to the gradual restriction of individual rights, to the point of physical suppression.
Recent talks about a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, initiated by the Trump administration, have revitalized the “plea for peace” of Romanian “patriots”, although in fact, they demand, in addition to Kyiv's unconditional surrender, the annexation of Ukrainian territories by Romania, as well as the punishment of Ukrainian leaders for the “audacity” of opposing the great friend from the East. At the same time, sovereignists criticize the confrontational attitude of the European Union, which not only refuses peace, but continues to spend huge amounts of money on armament, to the detriment of the population's well-being.
Observing their commitments and “traditions”, Romanian nationalists continued their anti-Semitic propaganda, while at the same time reviving legionary rhetoric. The narratives oscillated between blaming Jews for Romanian anti-Semitism and denying the involvement of the Romanian state in the Holocaust, going as far as distorting the history of Romanian fascism and even accusing the European Union of Nazi practices.
Top 5 fake news
Romania is the richest country in the EU in terms of resources, but continues to be impoverished by the European Union, given that the population's income is very low, and prices for goods and services are very high. In fact, the narrative of Romania's limitless wealth of natural resources, broadly circulated by sovereignist propaganda, is refuted by all official statistics. For instance, Romania ranks 5th in the European Union in terms of agricultural areas, holding 8.1% of the EU’s total farmland surface. However, the value of agricultural production is significantly lower, only 4% of the community total, signaling a major gap between the extension of farmland and production efficiency, which cannot be attributed to malevolent external forces. Similarly, Romania currently has the second-lowest level of prices for consumer goods and services from all Member States, after Bulgaria.
Romania's political leaders do not represent the will of the people, and the AUR extremist party should be in power, as it ranks first in opinion polls. In truth, the fact that at some point, during an electoral cycle, an opposition party becomes the electorate's favorite, does not automatically imply bringing it to power, as this is achieved only at the end of democratic elections. In addition, we can also invoke here the almost non-existent credibility of electoral polling operators, who for many years now have not been able at all to reflect Romanians' actual political options. Evidence of this is the most recent example, of the election for the Bucharest mayor's office, a vote where the polls presented estimates without any connection to reality, including those that correctly indicated the winner but missed his score by nearly 10%.
Scientists have finally succeeded in demonstrating that mRNA vaccines modify human DNA, by comparing an RNA sequence discovered in a cancerous tumor with the structure of the Pfizer vaccine, although they stated as clearly as possible that the patient in question had been vaccinated with the Moderna shot (!!). In fact, according to any scientific protocol, a study based on analyzing a single patient cannot prove a universal biological mechanism. If a phenomenon is real, it must repeat itself across multiple cases, in different laboratories, with similar results. Up to this point, no other researcher in the world has observed an integration of an mRNA vaccine into human DNA, as the authors of the study cited by anti-vaxxers so claim.
Romanian sovereignists are demanding that Ukraine pay compensation for the losses sustained by Romania, claiming that our country offers support to Ukraine without receiving anything in return. Without taking into account that the losses in questions are due exclusively to Russia's aggression and not to any deliberate action by Ukraine, even while accepting the hypothesis that Ukraine owes us, claiming payment in compensation at a time when the neighboring country is facing an unimaginable crisis, is, to use polite language, a decision at least lacking in the compassion and kindness of Romanians that all sham patriots invoke. Moreover, in diplomatic contacts between the two countries, the Ukrainian side has repeatedly invited Romanian businesses to get involved in Ukraine's reconstruction process through investments in this country, benefitting the Romanian economy, based on the model vilified by local sovereignists, who claim that foreign investments in Romania benefit foreigners. Also, the authorities in Kyiv have invited the Romanian Orthodox Church to discuss the issue of establishing a religious structure subordinated to the Romanian Orthodox Church that would operate on the territory of Ukraine.
Bringing back into the public attention an older narrative, nationalist propaganda in Romania claims that Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel was not a prisoner at Auschwitz and Buchenwald, although there is a plethora of very clear evidence that debunks this lie. Moreover, there are countless testimonies from other survivors who confirm his presence in the two camps. In addition, there is also a series of his own testimonies, later confirmed by third parties, published in the volume “Night”, one of the most important literary testimonies about the Holocaust, where Elie Wiesel described his experience during the years of detention. His claims are corroborated by accounts of other survivors from the same transports and camps, some of them publicly confirming that they knew him under those circumstances.
Top 5 disinformation narratives
American Vice-President JD Vance said that Romania is a French colony and urged Romanians to start a revolution for freedom, local sovereignists claimed. In fact, Vance did not say or suggest this in any statement, and multiple searches and checks did not identify any public statement to this effect made by the American official. The propaganda substantiates its claim using a doctored photograph, poorly imitating the site of a genuine publication, the fake being easily identifiable from the very first word of the image, which designated Vance as senator and not vice-president of the United States.
While serving as interim president, Ilie Bolojan planned to reduce the number of holidays for Romanians, through a legislative initiative that sought to cancel all Christian holidays. In fact, the head of state does not have the legal right to push any item of legislation and, as a result, cannot submit, in his own name, laws of any kind. Moreover, the incriminated project had been submitted by MPs representing the extremist party SOS Romania, and actually sought to introduce a new holiday in addition to the 17 already stipulated by law. Out of negligence, disinterest or even incompetence, initially, the legislative project registered in the Senate by ‘patriotic’ members of Parliament provided for granting a new legal holiday in February, but also eliminating six legal holidays from those currently existing. However, , in the explanatory memorandum accompanying the project, the initiators of the bill did not mention anything about reducing the current list of legal holidays. Subsequently, the bill was modified by adding to the list another six holidays omitted in the initially submitted form, a sign that this was never the intention of the authors of the legislative proposal.
Ilie Bolojan, who in the meantime had become Prime Minister, was accused of doubling the cost of energy. The decisions to eliminate energy price capping had been made more than three years earlier. The fact that a legislative package adopted in Parliament three years ago produces effects today cannot be attributed to the current cabinet, that is, the Bolojan government is not doubling energy bills. Furthermore, the price increase is nothing but the result of free market economy mechanisms, which combine production and distribution costs with the supply-demand ratio, this time without absolutely no intervention from the state.
Another blatant lie rolled out in international media, and also picked up by Romanian nationalist propaganda, claimed that Volodymyr Zelenskyy bought a diamond mine in South Africa. The proof provided was a video forged with the help of AI, in which the Ukrainian president appeared to be in South Africa, where he was negotiating the terms of an agreement regarding the acquisition of a majority stake in a mining company (not a mine) in the field of platinum extraction (not diamonds). In fact, the video and the news associated with it do not exist either on the website of the television which allegedly broadcast the information, nor on its official social media accounts. Moreover, on the very day the video was published, that television in question strongly denied the false information. Zelenskyy's visit, which was ultimately cancelled, had nothing to do with any economic operation by the Ukrainian president, but was the result of an invitation launched by the president of the African state, part of diplomatic efforts by the Pretoria regime, meant to soften accusations against it related to its close relations with Moscow. With this move, South Africa was also trying to broker a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia.
Another lie as big as the People's House (e.n. the current Palace of the Parliament), tried at the end of the year to minimize the terrible impact that the Legionary Movement had in national history, based on the argument that the International Military Tribunal at Nürnberg allegedly eliminated it from the list of Nazi criminal organizations. In fact, only high-ranking members of the political, military and economic leadership of the Nazi regime were tried at Nürnberg, in addition to organizations that operated on German territory. Romania's Legionary Movement was not the subject of the Nürnberg trial, because the international tribunals that were established at the time dealt only with the organizations of the Third Reich and the German state apparatus. It could not, therefore, be eliminated from any list, for the simple reason that it was never on the list of investigated organizations. The disinformation narrative continued with the claim that “the legionaries were never in power”, although history records and has dedicated entire volumes of literature to the period spanning September 14, 1940 – February 14, 1941, when the legionaries were not only in power, but Romania bore the official name of the National-Legionary State.
Top 5 most outlandish narratives
Vladimir Putin decided to invade Ukraine because he was suffering from Havana syndrome, induced energetically through the HAARP system operating on its territory. Moreover, its effect had been amplified by his positioning near Ukrainian biological weapons production laboratories, funded by the American government. In fact, the HAARP system is located only in the American state of Alaska, and replicating such an installation would be quite visible and practically impossible to hide from the public, taking into account its huge dimensions. In addition, because it induces plasmonic waves only in the ionosphere, which is more than 100 kilometers from the Earth's crust, the HAARP system cannot have effects on the Earth's surface. Similarly, the narrative of the existence of biological laboratories on Ukrainian territory is one of the main themes of disinformation and fake news used by Moscow to justify its military aggression.
The EVARS sexual education program in France will allow sexual abuse against minors, going as far as legalizing pedophilia. The narrative claimed that students would be “put in special rooms, where they are undressed and taught by pedophiles to know their bodies”. Moreover, parents who refuse their children's participation in these classes would be fined thousands of Euro and handed prison sentences. In fact, the program om question includes absolutely no reference to masturbation or other sexual practices, such as anal or oral sex, but focuses on the emotional and social education of children, including learning the names of body parts using dolls, discussing and expressing emotions, as well as basic hygiene and physical health information. The program also includes subjects such as managing emotions and preventing abuse.
Martial law has been secretly declared in Romania, and the country is led by a foreign military authority. Without naming the authority in question, conspiracists used as an argument for this claim the existence of golden fringes on the flags in courts and courtrooms. In fact, Romanian legislation contains absolutely no regulation that associates fringed flags with martial law. These are generally used to indicate the importance or solemnity of the event at which they are present, not as an indicator of any special state. The fringes on flags are, in fact, a matter of tradition and design, without any direct association with martial law. The fringes are rather a decorative and ceremonial element, which underlines the importance of the event or unit that carries them.
Romania is forced to send troops to fight in Ukraine, but also in Moldova, because all its leaders from the last two years allegedly signed secret documents in this regard (the other parties of which remain unknown). In fact, regardless of who leads Romania, authorities cannot deploy military forces outside the borders based on a whim. The country's leaders must take into account a strict legislative framework and follow a clear procedural line – proposals, decisions of the Supreme Defense Council, Parliament’s approval, etc. No such public mechanism automatically triggers the deployment of troops to the territory of another state, simply based on “signatures”. The approval of any external military mission therefore involves public decisions and a series of institutional approvals, not private signatures of secret documents.
China air-dropped aid to the population in Gaza, after breaking the blockade imposed by the Israeli army on the Palestinian enclave. Taking over a narrative that was circulated in Western social media without due analysis, Romanian propagandists presented as a true triumph of Chinese goodwill a video compiled from several videos that presented either a joint military exercise between China and Egypt in the area of the Giza pyramids, or indeed a humanitarian air-drop operation in Gaza, but which had taken place a year earlier and in which China had not participated. In fact, China did not air-drop aid to Gaza at all, nor did it claim to have done so. Romanian "patriots” did, though.
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