DIGITAL DUEL by NewsVibe. TOP 5 matches in the Romanian online space, in the last week

In the last week, the main parliamentary parties have fluctuated in the number of mentions in the most relevant online sources. According to data analyzed through NewsVibe, a real-time monitoring software of online conversations based on artificial intelligence, compared to the previous interval, PNL registered a substantial increase, AUR - a moderate increase, while USR and PSD registered slight decreases. UDMR had the fewest mentions among the analyzed parties.

Recently, there has been an intensification of the discussions about the fiscal measures already adopted by the Government, the censure motion initiated by AUR was debated and rejected, President Nicușor Dan declared himself dissatisfied with the VAT increase, and Ilie Bolojan was formally elected president of PNL, following the PNL Congress. At the same time, tensions arose in the coalition, especially after the PSD accused that not all the measures adopted by the pledge of responsibility had been agreed within the coalition and imposed conditions for future deficit reduction decisions. Speculation is already emerging in the public arena about what the new package of measures anticipated in the government's messages will contain, while ministers are constantly sending signals on controlling public spending.

again against this backdrop, developments in online mentions of the parties were not uniform, with NewsVibe data showing the PNL up considerably, with an increase of over 120%, while the differences from last week for PSD, USR and AUR were rather minor. PNL took over the top spot in last week's top, as a result of an increase in the number of mentions of the party in recent days.

Top 5 parties by online visibility
1. PNL - 2,686 mentions
2. PSD - 2,122 mentions
3. USR - 804 mentions
4. AUR - 589 mentions
5. UDMR - 310 mentions

- only mentions from relevant online and social media sources (sources validated by the NewsVibe platform)

COMPARATIVE VISIBILITY AND IMPACT. The competitive analysis engine created by NewsVibe evaluates the strength of political actors to penetrate the online space, directly compared to their competitors.

Over 90% of mentions about parties target parties in the governing coalition. The impact of these mentions is also approaching almost 90% of the total. PSD remains the party that generates the highest impact mentions out of the total (36%), although PNL registers the most mentions (41% of the total). AUR, although initiator of the no-confidence motion debated in Parliament the other day, does not capitalize the political action neither in terms of the number of mentions, nor in terms of their estimated impact.

These data show that the public discussions are almost entirely dominated by the governing parties, in particular the PNL and PSD, which concentrate both the volume and the impact of the messages. In contrast, AUR fails to convert recent political initiatives (the no-confidence motion) into consistent visibility or real influence on the agenda of online sources.

NewsVibe charts. Share of the number of mentions (left) and impact of mentions (right) about each of the parties, respectively, of the cumulative total of mentions about all five

NETWORK ANALYSIS. The tool created by NewsVibe - semantic network analysis - allows to visualize the relationships between topics, personalities and themes, based on their co-appearance in the mentions collected from the most influential online sources in Romania. NewsVibe applies advanced methods of artificial intelligence and machine learning to build interaction maps that highlight: the central actors of a conversation, the connections between them, the groups (clusters) of topics, concepts and influencers (personalities and organizations) that have formed around an event, topic or idea.

Grafic NewsVibe. Semantic network semantics associated with online conversation about the 5 main parliamentary parties in the last week

What the analysis shows:
- The discussion area having the PNL at its center is very well shaped and dominates by size, indicating a consistent presence in online conversations. Around it are terms such as National Liberal Party, PNL Congress, Parliament Palace and Nicușor Dan, reflecting the intense debates about the Congress, the new leadership, the internal reorganization and the relation to the government themes.
- Ilie Bolojan emerges as a distinct, consistent node, very close to the PNL, suggesting high individual visibility, but also his central role in the recalibration of the party and in the discussions about the stability of governance.
- The PSD area is also significant, but slightly more compact than the PNL area. Surrounding the PSD are terms such as Sorin Grindeanu and Bolojan, indicating PSD presence in negotiations and in the governmental context, but also tense elements.
- The area in which the Romania node is positioned functions as a linking point between the main parties, suggesting that discussions about the parties are closely linked to broader issues of public interest and perceptions of the general state of the country.
- The segment of debates related to the other parties - USR, AUR, UDMR - is less individualized and more peripheral, with the only leader frequently invoked being George Simion.

SENTIMENT. The NewsVibe platform has created an advanced automated sentiment analysis system that uses specially trained AI algorithms and LLM tools to detect nuances of tone - favorable, unfavorable or neutral - in the context of references to entities relevant to an online conversation.

Grafic NewsVibe. Automated online conversation tone ratings of the top 5 parliamentary parties by week

What the analysis shows:
- Among the terms reflected in negative contexts were PSD and, secondarily, PNL and AUR. Topics about which negative online content was published within the broader framework of mentions of the parties were also Russia, FSB or the Tate brothers.
- Among the entities more frequently discussed in a positive context, Ilie Bolojan stood out, as well as geopolitical actors such as France (reflected on the occasion of the national day) or Europe.

*****Synthesis realized with the help of a monitoring feed provided by NewsVibe Romania. The analysis, data and images presented were enhanced with the help of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence tools.