Digital narratives, public discourse and the risk of disinformation: a data-driven analysis of sensitive topics in 2024

Four studies conducted by Romanian researchers as part of the BROD project activities used a data-driven perspective to showcase how four sensitive topics (climate change, COVID-19 & vaccination, Romania’s Schengen accession, and the Romanian minority in Ukraine) resonated within Romania’s digital space throughout 2024, identifying key actors, influential narratives, and the broader context influencing public debate.

Each topic followed its own rhythm, with fluctuating visibility linked to major events rather than sustained public interest.

Climate change remained a secondary concern, peaking around international policy discussions and extreme weather events. While mainstream media and institutional voices dominated the conversation, its visibility was event-driven rather than ongoing. The impact of web-based mentions vastly outweighed Facebook discussions.

The COVID-19 and vaccination debate, while present, lost the urgency of previous years. The conversation was largely reignited by external events—such as Joe Biden contracting COVID-19 or Pfizer suing Romania over vaccine orders. Alternative narratives, influences from religious voices on social media, and conspiratorial perspectives played a significant role, amplifying skepticism around vaccination.

The Romanian minority in Ukraine saw limited traction, mainly appearing during politically charged events, such as protests over cultural rights and the banning of AUR leader George Simion from Ukraine. Populist and nationalist discourse fueled interest in the topic.

Finally, Schengen accession was a dominant theme in online debates, driven by political decisions related to Romania’s partial and then complete entry into the area. This issue resonated deeply due to its economic and mobility implications. Austria’s role in delaying full accession remained a key grievance, while discussions highlighted Romania’s place within the EU.

Across all topics, the online debate remained reactive, peaking in response to breaking news but struggling to maintain consistent engagement. Facebook played a role in amplifying alternative and populist narratives for some of the topics, while traditional media drove the broader public discourse.

The analysis was conducted using automated content analysis through a specialized online conversation monitoring tool (NewsVibe), which systematically tracked mentions across influential Romanian web sources and Facebook throughout 2024, analyzing over 30,000 aggregated mentions. This method allowed for a quantitative and qualitative assessment of the impact of online discussions by evaluating metrics such as the number of mentions and estimated impact, classifying mentions based on source type (web vs. Facebook), identifying leading entities mentioned in the context of the analyzed topics, and offering insights into how each issue evolved over time. Additionally, an AI-powered categorization algorithm identified dominant contexts which framed the issues —such as governance, politics, environment etc—while other elements related to sentiment and framing were inferred from emojis, hashtags, and regional distribution of mentions. This comprehensive approach provided an in-depth understanding of online discourse around these topics, revealing key themes, prominent voices, and the wider societal and political factors influencing public perception in Romania.