The United States sanctioned Shor in October, saying the support he received from Russia was aimed at destabilizing Moldova.

The Șor party did not respond to a request for comment.

As a person under sanctions, Shor is technically not allowed to advertise on Facebook. But Watchdog.MD says Shor found a loophole in Facebook’s advertising system that allows him to avoid restrictions to promote his political agenda.

On February 3, he appeared in a video criticizing the government for soaring energy bill costs, which quintupled after Russia cut off gas supplies entering Moldova. “Today, the most needed professions in the country, such as doctors and teachers, are forced to take out loans to pay for public services,” he says, expressing support for a petition calling on the government to write off income of the population. energy bills in winter.

What is strange about the video is its origin. It was posted on a page that was only liked by 19 people. But the video has been viewed more than 600,000 times, a huge number in a country of fewer than 2.5 million people. Watchdog.MD claims that the video was aggressively promoted using advertisements. But on February 10, when researchers looked at the page’s ad library, where past and present ads are supposed to appear, the video was gone. Watchdog.MD doesn’t know how to explain why Shor’s ads don’t always show up in Facebook’s ad tracking.

Every week, new pages popped up, carrying new advertisements in the name of the Șor party. Between February 13 and 19, Watchdog.MD identified seven advertisements running on five different pages. Between February 1 and 10, seven ads were posted on six different pages.

Many of these pages were created with Vietnamese names, including Shop Mua Bán (Buy, Sell) or Shop Ban Giay (Shoe Store) or Tạp Chí Phái Đẹp (Beauty Magazine). Their names were later changed to names explicitly referring to Moldova, such as “For Chisinau” or “For the People”. Many pages indicate that they have admins based in countries like the United Arab Emirates, the Philippines, and Indonesia.

“It is clear that behind these advertisements are people who know very well and understand how Facebook works and how to circumvent all these internal rules,” explains Pașa.

Pages are often removed after Watchdog.MD reports them, but as soon as Facebook bans one, another soon replaces it. Pașa is frustrated by Facebook’s lack of systemic approach to solving the problem. “They say they are investigating and we trust them, but their approach is reactive.”

Facebook has reported similar types of Russian influence campaigns since at least 2017. During the 2022 U.S. presidential election, the platform banned political ads entirely. But in Moldova, the advertisements continue to flow.

Reset’s Kartte says the ads he saw are such a blatant violation of Facebook’s terms of service that it implies the platform hasn’t invested in enough resources or staff for the local market. “In Moldova, they clearly don’t care,” he says.