Advertising network AdNow collects Romanian users’ data via scam ads and sends it to servers in Russia’s Novosibirsk, investigation finds

A Russia-linked advertising network, AdNow, is collecting data from millions of users in Romania and transmitting it to servers in Novosibirsk, according to an investigation by Romanian outlet Snoop and other Eastern European publications, including The Insider.

The investigation analyzed ads on 1,145 pages across 131 websites in Eastern Europe, including Romania’s RTV, Realitatea TV, and dozens of others. AdNow’s ads were embedded through the company’s own infrastructure rather than Google Ads and included pitches promising miracle cures for illnesses and offering various get-rich-quick schemes. After users clicked on the ads, the network collected data about their psychological profiles, political views, and interest in conspiracy theories.

The journalists found that data was transmitted even when users explicitly refused consent in a notification. During two checks of the RTV website in February and May, information was still sent to 10 and 17 companies, respectively.

The investigators estimated that AdNow racks up 500 million ad impressions a month. From August 2022 through December 2025, Romanian companies billed AdNow 1,913,334 lei, or about $420,000.

AdNow founder Yulia Serebryanskaya previously worked in the public relations department of Russia’s ruling United Russia party and took part in the presidential campaigns of Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev. In 2024, journalists found that AdNow’s IT infrastructure had been used in the election campaign of Kaliningrad Region governor Alexei Besprozvannykh, who is under international sanctions. AdNow formally operates through the Bulgarian company Renodo Media Ltd., which has been linked to Georgian-born Giorgi Abuladze. However, Snoop reported that employees of the advertising network had been overseen by people in Russia for years.

A company affiliated with AdNow, RocketProfit (which holds an FSB license to process personal data) was found to have used fraudulent advertising practices. One example involved an AI-generated video falsely showing doctor Irinel Popescu endorsing a medical product. The ad was viewed 445,836 times, and a total of 1,856 people clicked through to sales pages; 843 of them handed over their names, phone numbers, addresses, and a total of around $30,000 to the scammers.

After Snoop published an investigation in 2025, Romanian regulator ANCOM blocked access to RocketProfit.

At the end of May, IAB Europe revoked AdNow’s right to place advertising through its centralized real-time bidding system. AdNow ads have continued to circulate, however, through undeclared servers.

Snoop had previously reported that money generated by similar Russian advertising operations went to websites promoting far-right presidential candidate Călin Georgescu and the AUR party.

In December 2024, Romania’s Supreme Council of National Defense accused Russia of interfering in the country’s presidential election by aiding Georgescu through cyberattacks and the manipulation of social media algorithms.