Daniela SerbanStrategic Communications

and Public Affairs Coordinator

Tools to fight Fake NewsJune 15, 2018

1. McGuireWoods link to Fake News topic

2. Fake News, From politics to businesses

3. Reasons on Fake news spreading in Romania

4. Results of Fake News propagation in 2 cases

• Meal Vouchers industry

• Raiffeisen Bank

5. Tools developed locally to fight against Fake News

6. EC recommendations

7. Conclusions

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KEY ADRESSEED TOPICS

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CONNECTING BUSINESSES AND INSTITUTIONALS

One-Stop-Shop Government Affairs and Strategic Communications Advisory

More than 130 clients advised in a decade of business in Romania

Proven track record of complex projects delivered in Automotive, Telecomms,

Pharmaceuticals, Energy & Financial Services

As Public Affairs and Strategic Communications Coordinator, Iassist various clients in developing Strategic CommunicationsStrategies and Action Plans.

With more than 12 years of experience in financial marketsand media, main expertise relates to financialcommunications, investor relations, public relations,government relations, events management and digitalmarketing.

Prior to joining the firm, I held for 7 years various roleswithin the Bucharest Stock Exchange, the latest one asDirector of Investor Relations and Public RelationsDepartment.

Daniela SerbanStrategic

Communications and Public Affairs

Coordinator

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FAKE NEWS IN ROMANIA

Politics

Business

Klaus Iohannis, involved in international kids traffic, how the Mayor of Sibiu was selling kids

TV manipulation: Soros orchestrated the Colectivtragedy

The evening nonsense at Romania TV: People and dogs paid to protest. See how much they were paid

BBC writes about the nice dogs protesters and still waiting for the answer from Romania TV about the funding

Great news for Romanian who receive meal vouchers. The value of the ticket increased.

The robbery of the century! Romania hacked! The colossal amount stolen from ATMs. Incredible details of the operation as in movies.

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FAKE NEWS IN ROMANIA

Fragmented media landscape

5 privately-owned 24-hour news channels, rival broadcasters

Many small websites looking for the sensational

Fight for click-rate, driven in many times by Google search

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CASE STUDY 1

The Government decides to eliminate starting 2018 meal vouchers for the

public sector workers

Meal vouchers were granted to 3 mil. people in addition to the salary

In February, when the topic was still under discussion in the Parliament a

Fake News announcing the raise of meal vouchers face value emerges

Media monitoring provided by:

~60 mentions,excepting social media

Media Articles

Ziare.com 4

Bugetul.ro 2

Diacaf.ro 2

E-politic.ro 2

Romaniatv.net 2

The value of meal tickets increased from 15.09 lei to 20 lei this year.

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CASE STUDY 2

On 8 of March, a local Newspaper – Buna Ziua Iasi- writes the exclusivity of

the year and provides

No feedback was requested from the bank

The source had access to the files of one of the hackers from Iasi

THE EXCLUSIVITY OF THE YEAR! Unprecedented earthquake in the Romanian banking system! HUGE SECRET hidden by The Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) Iasi! All the ATMs of a famous bank were compromised.

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CASE STUDY 2

Hackers horrified the banks. Tens od ATMs of Raiffeisen Bank, including in Ploiesti, emptied in record time

The largest breakout of ATMs. Hackers had stolen 800,000 euro in a single night

The robbery of the century! Romania hacked! The colossal amount stolen from ATMs. Incredible details of the operation as in movies.

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CASE STUDY 2

Bank ATMs had a command to empty the machine to check on

the existing cash balance

Hackers entered into the system and ordered to empty the

ATMs one by one and collected the money sitting next to every

ATMs

Bank had insurance and no client was damaged

The amounts were much smaller than mentioned in the media

The incident took place in 2016, since then the issues were

solved

REALITY

BANK REACTION

Reactive Communication in the central media related to the

incident

Internal communication with the call center and bank network

Social media engagement

Positive news related to Bank results, Top Employers, Start-up

Raiffeisen Factory in the following weeks

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FEW AVAILABLE TOOLS TO FIGHT FAKE NEWS

Biziday –Verified news

”Clean news”With additional

sources provided

”Check thesource”

With additional info on websites

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EC RECOMMENDATIONS

Final report of the High Level Expert Group on Fake News and Online DisinformationJanuary 2018

1. enhance transparency of online news, involving an adequateand privacy-compliant sharing of data about the systems thatenable their circulation online;

2. promote media and information literacy to counterdisinformation and help users navigate the digital mediaenvironment;

3. develop tools for empowering users and journalists totackle disinformation and foster a positive engagement withfast-evolving information technologies;

4. safeguard the diversity and sustainability of the Europeannews media ecosystem, and

5. promote continued research on the impact of disinformationin Europe to evaluate the measures taken by different actorsand constantly adjust the necessary responses.

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CONCLUSIONS

BUSINESS

Learn to reactand face Fake

Newsphenomenon

EDUCATION

Promoteeducation of

younggeneration and

older people

PUBLIC POLICIES

Develop tools toeducate thepublic and

regulate thedistribution of

Fake News

Thank you!Please contact us for further information

Daniela A. Serban Strategic Communications

and Public Affairs Coordinator McGuireWoods Consulting SRL

America House West Wing, 7th Floor

4-8 Bd. Nicolae TitulescuSector1, Bucharest, Romania

T: +40 372 35 14 72 M: +40 742 242 662

F: +40 21 317 14 82 dserban@mcguirewoods.ro

Bio | www.mcguirewoodsconsulting.com