General prosecutor: Romania was the favourite target of extensive hybrid campaigns during 2024 elections

General prosecutor Alex Florenta on Tuesday explained the ways in which hybrid attacks were carried out against our country, allegedly to the benefit of former presidential candidate Calin Georgescu, showing that Romania was the "favourite" target of such extensive campaigns in the context of the 2024 elections, "hostile actors pursuing the continuous shaping of public opinion"."The investigations carried out at the level of the General Prosecutor's Office show, according to the conclusions so far, (...) that Romania was the favourite target of extensive hybrid campaigns, in the context of the 2024 electoral elections, with hostile actors aiming to continuously shape public opinion, destabilize the decision-making capacity of the authorities and dilute the degree of cohesion at the population level. The campaign launched in Romania included cyber attacks, measures to destabilize public order, as well as campaigns micro-targeting the population, meant to misinform and influence the electorate", Alex Florenta told a press conference where he presented the conclusions of the investigations carried out at the level of the General Prosecutor's Office in recent months regarding the ways in which the events of the fall of 2024 unfolded around the elections for the election of the country's president.According to him, hybrid attacks exploited the vulnerabilities of national audiences both through the versatile use of social platforms and through social engineering techniques aimed at segmenting the population."The offensive nature of the hybrid aggressions targeting Romania exploited, on the one hand, the vulnerabilities of the people, both through the versatile use of social platforms, namely by circumventing the policies present at their level regarding the way of promoting people from the political spectrum, and through social engineering techniques aimed at segmenting the population, in order to subsequently deliver personalized messages to already receptive audiences, the expected result being the diversion of the optimal development of the electoral process. It is essential to understand in this context how the hybrid war that has been affecting Romania for some time has unfolded and continues to unfold," Florenta emphasised.The general prosecutor explained that the current hybrid war, compared to the traditional war, is "much more insidious, much more perfidious", but with much broader results in influencing the way the socio-economic life of a state is carried out.According to him, in 2024, more than 85,000 cyber attacks were attacking electoral infrastructure.Asked whether former presidential candidate Calin Georgescu benefited from hybrid campaigns, Alex Florenta answered yes.   He added that, starting in November last year, extremist communities have intensified their use of hate speech and incitement to violence.Speaking at a press conference, Florenta outlined the hybrid attacks targeting Romania, which allegedly also involved former presidential candidate Calin Georgescu."Since November 2024, extremist communities have intensified narratives and messages inciting hatred and violence, linked to the campaign of an independent candidate, creating a climate of panic in society. The surge began during the first round of the elections and grew systematically through AI-generated hate speech. Such narratives and methods of online content production match the action patterns of the Russian Federation, having also been reported in countries such as the Republic of Moldova and Georgia. Pro-Russian propaganda channels were also used," the prosecutor general stated.According to him, social media platforms have hosted incitement to hatred and violence, including threats against authorities. Most of these were framed around the idea of a "general revolt," with references to the December 1989 Revolution intended to exploit nostalgic sentiments."Another element of hybrid warfare present in Romania is political subversion, which can take various forms. On the one hand, it involves carefully cultivated business and media networks ? sometimes below detection thresholds ? as well as domestic political sources, aimed at influencing government decisions. We recall the visits paid to the Russian Embassy by several Romanian parliamentarians over recent years. An important current aspect in Romania is also the instrumentalization of extremist groups," Prosecutor General Alex Florenta further specified.