The "ambulance” case brings back the need for a law against disinformation

The attack on a crew of the Cluj County Ambulance Service, caused by false information distributed on social networks, has relaunched the debate on the need for legislative measures against online disinformation and manipulation. Several politicians, including former Minister of Health Alexandru Rogobete, interim Deputy Prime Minister Oana Gheorghiu, the Mayor of Cluj-Napoca, Emil Boc, and the Minister of Defense, Radu Miruţă, have called for the intervention of the authorities, in the context in which a medical crew on a mission was attacked with clubs, axes and stones. The doctors had been called to provide care to a patient in the locality of Recea Cristur, Cluj County, but were attacked after rumors were spread on TikTok that an "ambulance steals children”. The ambulance driver was injured in the eye by the broken glass and underwent surgery. Police identified several people involved in the attack, and three young men, aged 18, 22 and 24, all from the Recea-Cristur commune, were detained for 24 hours.

• Alexandru Rogobete: "A misinformation from the virtual world has ended up putting lives in danger”

Former Minister of Health and Social Democratic MP Alexandru Rogobete said that the incident demonstrates how false information distributed online can have direct consequences in the real world. "A misinformation from the virtual world has ended up putting lives in danger in the real world,” Rogobete wrote on Facebook. He sent a message of solidarity to the employees of the ambulance services and SMURD units and argued that medical personnel must be protected in the exercise of their duties. "People, the ambulance is not coming to steal your children. The ambulance is coming to save your life!", the former minister said. Rogobete also referred to the legislative amendments recently adopted by the Chamber of Deputies, which he claims increase the protection of medical personnel and toughen the penalties for their aggressors. According to him, the new provisions establish penalties of one to five years in prison for assault or other violence, two to seven years for bodily harm and up to 25 years for murder, when the acts are directed against protected personnel, in the exercise of their duties or in connection with them. The protection is also extended to their family members. However, the former minister believes that legal protection is not sufficient in the absence of measures against disinformation. "Access to information does not automatically mean correct information. If someone says something on TikTok, it does not mean that it is true. A lie shared a million times remains a lie," Rogobete added.

• Oana Gheorghiu: "We need a strong law”

Interim Deputy Prime Minister Oana Gheorghiu, in turn, argues that the incident in Cluj County highlights the need for stronger legislation on online disinformation and manipulation. "Ambulances don't steal children, but TikTok steals brains. We need a strong law against online disinformation and manipulation,” Oana Gheorghiu wrote on Facebook. The attack on the medical team has prompted reactions from several politicians and representatives of the medical system, who have drawn attention to the risks generated by the rapid spread of false information on social platforms.

• Emil Boc calls for digital education and control of algorithms

The mayor of Cluj-Napoca, Emil Boc, condemned the attack and argued that, beyond punishing the guilty, the authorities must address the causes that allow the spread of such information. The former prime minister emphasized education and the development of critical thinking, including in the use of social networks.

"We need to reflect on some problems in Romanian society,” said Emil Boc, referring to ignorance, lack of education and the inability of some people to distinguish between real and fake information. In his opinion, digital education must become a necessity at any age, so that social network users can more easily differentiate between reality and fiction. Boc also believes that stricter control of artificial intelligence algorithms and content distributed online is necessary, and these problems should come to the attention of legislators at both national and European levels. "We really need to regulate content on social networks. I don't think banning it is the solution,” said the mayor of Cluj-Napoca, arguing that the responsibility for controlling content also lies with the owners of digital platforms.

• Radu Miruţă demands the adoption of a law against disinformation

Defense Minister Radu Miruţă asked the president of the Chamber of Deputies, social-demo Minister Sorin Grindeanu, to introduce the draft law on combating disinformation on the agenda. Miruţă claims that the draft was submitted to Parliament in 2025, passed tacitly by the Senate and is currently blocked in the Chamber of Deputies. "The law against disinformation must be adopted! I submitted it to Parliament in 2025. It passed tacitly by the Senate and is blocked in the Chamber of Deputies," the Minister of Defense wrote on Facebook. According to him, the attack on the ambulance shows that the phenomenon can no longer be treated only as a problem related to false information distributed on the Internet. "Here we are no longer talking about just a fake news story on the Internet. We are talking about a lie that came out of the phone and reached the street, turning into violence against people on a rescue mission," said Radu Miruţă. The minister believes that the scale of the Internet makes it difficult to combat each case of disinformation individually by reporting it to the competent authorities. In his opinion, algorithms that propagate disinformation should be countered by similar technological solutions, and these mechanisms must be transposed into legislation without affecting freedom of expression. Miruţă asked Sorin Grindeanu to introduce the project on the agenda of the Chamber of Deputies and conveyed that the provisions can be amended with the contribution of all parliamentary groups.

• Ministry of Health condemns the attack

The Ministry of Health condemned the attack on the crew of the Cluj County Ambulance Service and asked the competent institutions to be firm in managing such situations. The incident took place after rumors spread on social networks regarding the existence of an alleged "baby-stealing ambulance”. The false information was followed by an attack on medical personnel, which transformed online disinformation into an incident with physical consequences on people performing their duties. The case thus brings to the forefront the issue of the relationship between freedom of expression, the responsibility of digital platforms and the need for effective mechanisms to combat false or manipulative content that can generate violent behavior in the real world.