Vlad Bătrânu-Pințea

The paper examines the impact of fake news on how individuals perceive information and make decisions. The research is based on an online questionnaire administered to a sample of respondents (N = 275) from the Republic of Moldova (Transnistria), comprising young people and adults active on social networks (77.5% females, 21.1% males and 1.5% not declaring gender). The period of data collection was from 18 February to 2 April 2026. The results highlight that frequent exposure to platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Telegram is associated with more frequent exposure to fake news, especially in areas such as politics, the war in Ukraine and social issues. The model used explains 36.5% of the variance in the perceived impact on individual decisions, 35.3% of the variance in the level of information verification and protection, and 15.3% of the variance in the level of emotional impact. On an emotional level, fake news mainly generates confusion, anger and stress, especially in crisis contexts. These reactions affect the capacity for critical analysis and can lead to uncertainty, information avoidance or lack of verification of sources. On a broader level, disinformation contributes to a decrease in trust in authorities and the media, accentuating social divisions and influencing group decisions through fear, panic and information manipulation. The study highlights the need to develop media literacy, critical thinking and effective fact-checking mechanisms, as well as the important role of online platforms in limiting the spread of fake news. The study provides exploratory empirical evidence on the perceived effects of fake news in the Transnistrian region, an under-researched context characterized by multiple informational influences and specific geopolitical vulnerabilities. The findings provide a contextualized perspective on the relationships between exposure to disinformation, emotional reactions, verification behaviors, and individual decision-making.

Fake news detection has become a major research topic at the intersection of artificial intelligence, data mining, and information security. In this paper, we evaluate the performance of English-trained algorithms on English translations of Romanian-sourced news articles, using a translation-mediated cross-domain evaluation design. The study is based on source code generated with the assistance of artificial intelligence systems for a set of machine learning and transformer-based models. The code was subsequently implemented in Google Colab. 2026, trained on international benchmark datasets, and tested on Romanian news content. This design allowed the rapid prototyping of multiple detection pipelines and the systematic observation of their behavior in a media environment different from that represented in the training corpora. The models were evaluated comparatively using standard classification metrics, including accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score, complemented by additional indicators relevant to model robustness and practical usability. The experimental results revealed significant differences in performance across algorithms when applied to English translations of Romanian-language news content after training on international datasets. However, this study does not provide a direct comparison between model performance on the international benchmark datasets and the Romanian test corpus; therefore, the gap between the international training corpus and the Romanian-sourced test corpus is interpreted as an exploratory limitation and as a direction for future research. Based on these findings, we propose an empirical classification of the tested models according to their predictive effectiveness, their contextual robustness across linguistic environments, and their operational relevance as filtering tools for institutional monitoring. The results show that AI-assisted coding workflows can provide a viable starting point for reproducible misinformation research, but they also underline the limitations of directly transferring models trained on non-Romanian data to local media ecosystems. The study offers both a replicable evaluation framework and practical insights for institutions involved in strategic communication, public security, and the monitoring of information threats.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) alike have become central to modern digital infrastructures, driving disruptive transformations in decision-making, workflows, and socio-technical systems. Beyond algorithmic performance, their impact stems from integration into complex ecosystems spanning smart infrastructures, industry, and services. While enabling autonomous, data-driven solutions, their adoption raises challenges related to transparency, risk, and governance. Addressing fragmented research, this article provides an integrated literature review that synthesizes key directions, applications, and implementation challenges, offering a systemic perspective on AI and ML as drivers of emerging disruptive technologies. With the use of a popular measurement application, called SEMrush, we managed to analyse and see the tendencies of AI usage and search-pattern to further and better understand how this phenomenon makes increasing appearance in daily lives, starting from normal usage for daily users or normal consumers, to well-established companies that feel the need to enhance themselves through modern means and sophisticated paths.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) alike have become central to modern digital infrastructures, driving disruptive transformations in decision-making, workflows, and socio-technical systems. Beyond algorithmic performance, their impact stems from integration into complex ecosystems spanning smart infrastructures, industry, and services. While enabling autonomous, data-driven solutions, their adoption raises challenges related to transparency, risk, and governance. Addressing fragmented research, this article provides an integrated literature review that synthesizes key directions, applications, and implementation challenges, offering a systemic perspective on AI and ML as drivers of emerging disruptive technologies. With the use of a popular measurement application, called SEMrush, we managed to analyse and see the tendencies of AI usage and search-pattern to further and better understand how this phenomenon makes increasing appearance in daily lives, starting from normal usage for daily users or normal consumers, to well-established companies that feel the need to enhance themselves through modern means and sophisticated paths.

This study maps European countries’ resilience to cognitive warfare by developing a cross-national composite measure. The framework integrates three pillars: information ecology, institutional-digital capacity, and socioeconomic context—drawing on a systemic perspective linking social structures to societal functions. Publicly available secondary indicators are compiled from online sources for EU (European Union) and EEA (European Economics Area) states. The dataset is examined through descriptive analysis, association testing, multivariate modelling, dimensionality reduction to derive a composite resilience score, and unsupervised clustering to produce a country typology. Indicators capture governance effectiveness, e-government maturity, public-sector AI (Artificial Intelligence) readiness, digital connectivity and infrastructure, media freedom and broader media-ecosystem quality, academic freedom, and socioeconomic vulnerabilities such as youth labour market exclusion. Results show that resilience aligns most strongly with institutional capacity and governance performance; a healthy ecology acts as a reinforcing layer. Digital infrastructure appears necessary but insufficient without capable, credible institutions and coherent public policy. Socioeconomic vulnerabilities tend to erode resilience and heighten susceptibility to hostile cognitive influence. The study concludes that policy efforts should prioritise governance integrity and effectiveness, end-to-end digital government, responsible public-sector AI capability, and safeguards for media and academic autonomy, alongside measures that improve youth inclusion.

The primary purpose of this study is to analyse the factors that negatively and sometimes irreversibly affect language, thought, and implicitly, the creative elements that underlie a human being, especially from a social perspective. Artificial intelligence, for example, contributes significantly to the diminution of creative power and essence; the simplification of language produces misunderstandings, barriers, including problems. The method chosen in this study is content analysis of various aspects existing in the online environment, a space accessible to almost everyone, in which several dimensions will be analysed, including themes, concepts, words, posts, and messages. The phenomenon of rapid informatization that permanently shapes our lives is a real signal of concern from a social point of view. Here we mention from the specialized literature theories such as spreadability and including the idea virus theory, the propagation of trends that capture human life and society in general. Some risks are known, others too little, and others not at all. From addiction to regression, from convenience to danger, all represent aspects that are gaining momentum at an immeasurably rapid pace in this modern society.

The rapid evolution of digital technology and social media has transformed traditional advertising into a dynamic, interactive, and influencer-driven industry. Through a qualitative content analysis of three popular beauty YouTubers—Zoella, Tanya Burr, and SprinkleofGlitter—this research examines how influencers use persuasive communication strategies to build personal brands and engage audiences. This research highlights how useful this type of marketing is while also raising awareness regarding the manipulation that is taking place.

This study aims to create an accurate description of the Romanian Community in Florence, Italy. To do this scientific approach, mixed methods have been used, respectively the questionnaire and interview survey. This paper investigates varied perspectives of how the Romanians in Florence, Italy, are living, spending their free time, working, and celebrating religious (or not) holidays. It is of great interest in the research field to gather as much information as possible about these behaviours and daily life aspects. Especially in this era, where technology has eliminated the limitation of space and time, thus enhancing choices, communicational acts, and other various aspects in favour of people, both in the personal aspect of life, as well as professional aspects.

This paper aims to discuss and thoroughly analyze, aided using content analysis, and make use of certain theoretical support available regarding primary social learning, approximately how many and what certain events in a child’s life can affect his or her behavior. We discuss how Albert Bandura’s experiment involving the Bobo Clown doll revealed some troubling aspects no matter their age or even intellectual capacities. All these behaviors can, unfortunately, irreversibly affect a child’s harmonious development, both psychologically as well as emotionally. Virtual liberty also poses a threat in this case. This article proposes to take a deeper look into this phenomenon, constructing a base that starts early historically.

This paper aims to present and promote the eSports and its situation in Romania. Esports, also known as electronic sports, professional video game competitions, can be defined as a form of sports where the main aspects are facilitated by electronic systems. Most often eSports takes the form of multiplayer video game contests usually organized between professional players. Several games are popular in the competitive scene. The championships that appeared in the 1990s were those that contained fighting video games and the shooter type, genres that still have a large audience. Electronic athletes (or e-athlete, professional gamers) are those people who perform in a video game, thus reaching a higher level than amateur players. They train for hours to reach this performance. In the professional gaming industry, there are organizations that have players such as football or basketball clubs and they are paid monthly, receive specialized training, and participate in various competitions representing the organization they belong to. Following these ideas, the authors will first highlight the concepts that deal with eSports and video games globally, providing information on the emergence of eSports, then the situation of eSports in Romania is presented and its development. From this point of view, multiple video game contests and events are organized in Romania and the difference between international and domestic eSports is highlighted. As a novelty factor of this paper, some of the first Romanian representative attempts in organizing eSports events or competitions are presented.