Chair Cardin Urges Tech Companies to Address Russian Disinformation and Misinformation Ahead of Key Referendum in Moldova

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, sent letters to CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, and CEO of Alphabet and Google, Sundar Pichai, urging them to commit sufficient resources to addressing disinformation and misinformation in Moldova on their respective platforms. The letters point to Moldova's imminent constitutional referendum on the country's aspiration to join the European Union and cites evidence provided by the governments of the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom regarding ongoing Kremlin efforts to sow confusion and disinformation among the Moldovan public.

"This is a unique moment in Moldova's history that will determine the future for generations of Moldovans - and the decision must be Moldovans' alone," wrote Chair Cardin. "The gravity of this decision before the Moldovan people puts the onus on Moldova's partners, as well as those who help moderate key parts of Moldova's information space, to prevent malign foreign influence from interfering in one of the most important choices Moldovans will ever make."

Full text of the letters can be found below.

Dear Mr. Zuckerberg,

I write to urge Meta to take steps to combat disinformation in the Republic of Moldova ahead of the country's pivotal October 20 elections. Not only will Moldova elect a president next month, but the Moldovan people will participate in a referendum that will decide whether to commit the country unequivocally to a future in the European Union. This is a unique moment in Moldova's history that will determine the future for generations of Moldovans - and the decision must be Moldovans' alone. The gravity of this decision before the Moldovan people puts the onus on Moldova's partners, as well as those who help moderate key parts of Moldova's information space, to prevent malign foreign influence from interfering in one of the most important choices Moldovans will ever make.

The National Democratic Institute (NDI) recently conducted an impartial assessment of the election environment in Moldova leading up to this historic election, in which it assessed that foreign malign influence from Russia on social media platforms "is the greatest threat to electoral integrity." NDI specifically recommended that "social media platforms… dedicate greater resources to Moldova to identify false information and patterns of inauthentic behavior… and proactively ensure that they are not accepting advertisements from sanctioned individuals or their proxies." Given the popularity of Meta's platforms in the Moldovan market, I believe that Meta should take this recommendation seriously. I hope that Meta will act without delay to allocate additional resources to support a fair electoral environment in the run up to October 20.

The governments of the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom jointly stated in June that Russian actors are using disinformation to undermine Moldovan democracy during the election season and in its immediate aftermath. This joint statement exposed the Kremlin's malign influence operations, but it is incumbent upon those with the ability to respond to do so in an urgent manner. In particular, the U.S. and allies warned of Russian actors aiming to "incite protests." I believe that this type of behavior violates your code of conduct and must be addressed.

Respected Moldovan civil society group WatchDog.MD, which closely monitors disinformation on social media platforms, recently found that Moldovan oligarch Ilan Shor, who is sanctioned by the U.S., EU, UK, and Canada has paid for sponsored ads on your platforms. Ilan Shor spent more than $33,000 on Facebook advertisements in June alone, and more than $400,000 since being sanctioned in October 2022, according to WatchDog.MD.

Meta has an important chance this month to ensure that the Moldovan people can decide their own future. I hope that Meta seizes this opportunity to ensure that its platforms are a forum for good.

Dear Mr. Pichai,

I write to urge Google and Alphabet to take steps to combat disinformation in the Republic of Moldova ahead of the country's pivotal October 20 elections. Not only will Moldova elect a president next month, but the Moldovan people will participate in a referendum that will decide whether to commit the country unequivocally to a future in the European Union. This is a unique moment in Moldova's history that will determine the future for generations of Moldovans - and the decision must be Moldovans' alone. The gravity of this decision before the Moldovan people puts the onus on Moldova's partners, as well as those who help moderate key parts of Moldova's information space, to prevent malign foreign influence from interfering in one of the most important choices Moldovans will ever make.

The National Democratic Institute (NDI) recently conducted an impartial assessment of the election environment in Moldova leading up to this historic election, in which it assessed that foreign malign influence from Russia on social media platforms "is the greatest threat to electoral integrity." NDI specifically recommended that "social media platforms… dedicate greater resources to Moldova to identify false information and patterns of inauthentic behavior… and proactively ensure that they are not accepting advertisements from sanctioned individuals or their proxies." Given the popularity of Alphabet's platforms in the Moldovan market, I believe that Alphabet should take this recommendation seriously. I hope that Alphabet will act without delay to allocate additional resources to support a fair electoral environment in the run up to October 20.

The governments of the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom jointly stated in June that Russian actors are using disinformation to undermine Moldovan democracy during the election season and in its immediate aftermath. This joint statement exposed the Kremlin's malign influence operations, but it is incumbent upon those with the ability to respond to do so in an urgent manner. In particular, the U.S. and allies warned of Russian actors aiming to "incite protests." I believe that this type of behavior violates your code of conduct and must be addressed.

Respected Moldovan civil society group WatchDog.MD, which closely monitors disinformation on social media platforms, found that sponsored advertising on Google "is one of the main tools of disinformation" in Moldova. WatchDog.MD notes that the Moldovan government is powerless to stop this disinformation campaign without Alphabet's support.

Alphabet has an important chance this month to ensure that the Moldovan people can decide their own future. I hope that Alphabet seizes this opportunity to ensure its platforms are a forum for good.

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