Bulgaria prepares for disinformation ahead of snap elections

Bulgaria's drawback parliamentary elections connected 19 April volition people the country's eighth predetermination successful 5 years.

The country's Moscow-friendly erstwhile president, Rumen Radev, from the Progressive Bulgaria party, is presently starring successful the polls, up of erstwhile Prime Minister Boyko Borissov from the blimpish centre-right GERB party.

To combat disconnected overseas interference threats, which person go a recurring contented successful European elections, Bulgaria's authorities has called for assistance from Europe’s diplomatic service, besides activating the accelerated effect strategy nether the Digital Services Act (DSA) — a portion of authorities designed to marque the online abstraction safer and much accountable.

The DSA mechanics connects online platforms, civilian society, and fact-checkers to place and restrict contented that could interfere successful elections.

The Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD), an autarkic deliberation vessel which tracks disinformation operations, stated successful March that Bulgaria has "one of the astir permissive accusation environments for non-democratic malign manipulation successful the EU and 1 of the slightest prepared organization responses contempt continuous progress."

Bulgaria faced a important magnitude of disinformation up of its eurozone accession successful January 2026. The pro-Russian extremist Vazrazhdane party, besides known arsenic Revival, served arsenic 1 of the main actors moving to dispersed these misleading narratives.

In February, Revival enactment members attempted to tempest the office of the European Union's ngo successful Sofia, arsenic portion of a protestation against Bulgaria joining the eurozone. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen labelled the onslaught "outrageous".

What misleading claims are taking clasp successful Bulgaria?

Svetoslav Malinov, expert astatine the CSD, told Euronews' fact-checking team, The Cube, that determination has been a spike successful disinformation up of Bulgaria's elections.

"Bulgaria is really not a emblematic lawsuit erstwhile you're talking astir disinformation, due to the fact that it besides combines prolonged governmental instability, anemic regulators, and debased nationalist spot with a truly beardown home web that spreads and amplifies this benignant of information," helium said.

When added together, these conditions make fertile crushed for disinformation to instrumentality clasp and dispersed adjacent connected an organization level, according to Malinov, which becomes particularly disposable during elections.

"Certain narratives person gained traction, for instance, astir predetermination integrity," helium said. "Claims astir voting instrumentality hacks and rigging person triggered exigency amendments to the electoral code."

"Narratives astir vigor and the euro person besides gained explosive caller potency, particularly since Bulgaria joined the eurozone this year," Malinov added. "Often the rationale is that due to the fact that we're successful the eurozone, the vigor prices are adjacent worse, and we're paying adjacent much money."

Bulgarian websites dispersed pro-Kremlin narratives

According to the CSD, a fig of online outlets are astatine the centre of operations spreading pro-Kremlin narratives successful Bulgaria.

One of these alleged quality websites is Pogled Info, a quality outlet which repurposes contented from sanctioned Russian entities and Chinese state-controlled sources, including Vzglyad, RIA Novosti, Tsargrad TV, and China Radio International.

"This benignant of infrastructure is similar an amplification web wherever you tin hint an article, which has been published successful a EU-sanctioned Russian outlet, which is past republished and stripped. The author's sanction is removed and republished connected Poglet", said Malinov.

"The claims from these articles are picked up wrong minutes connected societal media, often by accounts who are pro-Russian status," helium added.