May 14, 2025. Viralized topics on the net in the last 24 hours

Tuesday's flow of viral headlines was dominated by the particular interest focused on the confrontation between George Simion and Nicușor Dan, in the context of the upcoming second round of the presidential elections. The conclusions are drawn based on an analysis of the top 100 headlines viralized on Facebook yesterday.

The figure of George Simion was particularly in the spotlight on social media, with multiple press materials generating high interactions. Several sources covered the visit of the GOLD candidate to Poland, where he attended an election rally of nationalist Karol Nawrocki [HotNews.ro], including the reaction of the Polish Prime Minister, who called Simion "pro-Russian" [Stirile PROTV, Digi24].

A negative headline against the same George Simion belongs to an investigation published by the platform Reporter de Iași [reporteris.ro], about his actions related to the Republic of Moldova and was also picked up by other publications such as [universul.net] or [epochtimes-romania.com] (which also reported about the cyber attack that the Iași platform was allegedly subjected to after the publication of the material). At the same time, former President Traian Basescu warned of the risks of Romania being drawn under Moscow's influence in the event of a Simion victory [epochtimes-romania.com].

Visible was also the statement of Marius Lulea, vice-president of AUR, favorable to the communist regime and Nicolae Ceausescu, which led IICCMER to announce that it will file a criminal complaint, an episode publicized by sources such as [Digi 24], [HotNews.ro], [Stirile PROTV].

Opinion polls have occupied a central place in online public interest, with headlines reflecting an extremely close competition between George Simion and Nicușor Dan [Stirile PROTV], [HotNews.ro], [g4media.ro], [aktual24.ro]

Candidate Nicușor Dan has also generated interest online, both through his media presence and the political support he has received in the last days of the campaign. His participations in televised debates and live interviews, including the one with Andreei Esca [Stirile PROTV], were intensely shared. The support received from President Maia Sandu [Digi 24, Antena3] was also of interest to Internet users.

In a secondary level, public interest was also attracted by foreign issues with local implications, such as the new Pope's position on the conflict in Ukraine [biziday.ro], or the US President's message on the EU [mariustuca.ro].

ARTICLES WITH HIGH VIRALITY

1. Who is George Simion, the man who set Moldova on fire. Plahotniuc, Russians, expulsions and a lot of money / EXCLUSIVE (Ep. 1) [REPORTERIS.RO]
2. A new "marketing" idea: AUR wants to take the houses of Romanians "who fled the country" and sell them for 1 leu [REPUBLICA.RO]
3. Sociologists say Nicușor Dan is catching up fast. Ecartul sub 4%, diaspora no longer decides alone [STIRILE PROTV]
4. A lawyer wants to represent for free those who want to sue Simion for promising houses for 35,000 euros [PROTV NEWS]
5. "I want to be president". LIVE, 19.00. Candidate Nicușor Dan answers questions from Andreea Esca [PROTV NEWS]
6. Simion opened the cone from which he was eating seeds to show that it was made from a diploma [TIMESNEWROMAN.RO]
7. Polish PM's reaction to the visit of "pro-Russian Romanian George Simion" to Warsaw: "Everything is clear" [PROTV NEWS]
8. VIDEO George Simion, message from the stage in Poland: "As the new President of Romania, I will come every day to campaign for Karol Nawrocki" [HOTNEWS.RO]
9. Băsescu: This is the most important moment after the Revolution. Who votes for Simion should know that he is pushing Romania towards disaster [EPOCHTIMES-ROMANIA.COM]
10. Marius Lulea praises communist dictatorship: "A regime that did good for this country" [HOTNEWS.RO]

***** Synthesis realized with the help of a monitoring feed provided by the NewsVibe Romania, team based on several online monitoring software. The top viral links are measured based on the number of interactions generated on Facebook by topics from the Romanian online press. Virality is measured by the cumulative number of likes, comments and shares obtained by various links over the course of a day.