IntMin Vela says Covid-19 disinformation campaigns funded, can lead to economic destabilisation

Interior Minister Marcel Vela said on Monday evening that disinformation published online denying the existence of the novel coronavirus is part of a financed campaign that can lead to economic destabilisation.

"The information war, if you will, has several purposes or several substrates. One of them is that of destabilisation, distrust, chaos, and challenging the authorities. Because, if we are to see the forest from the trees, if you allow me the metaphor, it is obvious that a state of mistrust, a lack of governmental authority, of trust in the health system, in the authorities, all this lead to economic destabilisation. Those who have these interests, opting for destabilisation, whether they are ghost sites that have certain circles of vested economic interests behind them, certain people who own them and who don't really exist, who roll out certain news, certain computer specialists who roll out the news, who know how to captivate as many followers as possible - all this in a way is organised, because it's obvious that they're funded, " Vela told Realitatea Plus private broadcaster.

The interior minister believes that such campaigns may persuade ordinary people and even some politicians to claim that the novel coronavirus does not exist or that thermal scanning is used for purposes other than the publicly avowed ones.

"When you see mobilisations on Facebook, financial resources, various concerted actions, campaigns in the true sense of the word, which originate in other countries possibly in countries that do not agree with say, either our European policy or the policy of defence alliances, then you can make a correct and objective x-ray of some things that are debatable. From there to proselytism or bringing to the market as many supporters as possible - who are not to blame as they are people persuaded of certain positions, because if someone signs as a doctor or a physician and present some data that may be false, anyone in good faith really believes that there is no coronavirus, even thinks that the vaccine is harmful to health; even a lawmaker may believe, after reading an report of a great scientist, which is false, is fake news, that the thermometer looks personal information from your identity card or takes your DNA copy and makes a clone of you," said Vela.

He added that the number of those who believe in such scenarios is small and that the vast majority of the public has proved that they understand the gravity of the situation, which is why he continued to appeal to the responsibility and patience of citizens, so that Romania may be able to move on to the next level of relaxation from June 1.