Romanian authorities have released a report that reveals that a state actor tried to influence the first round of the Romanian presidential election. The campaign was carefully planned and implemented with the help of Tiktok and social media influencers.
A state actor tried to influence the course of the first round of the Romanian presidential election with the help of Tiktok and numerous cyber attacks, according to Romanian authorities.
Romania’s internal intelligence service also says it found signs that the campaign was coordinated from abroad, Romanian news channel tells.
NATO critic, far-right Călin Georgescu won the first round of the Romanian presidential election in November. Georgescu’s sudden, explosive popularity on Tiktok is considered one of the reasons for the election victory.
According to the Romanian intelligence service, Georgescu’s surprising popularity was the result of a carefully organized and guerilla-like campaign on social media involving social media influencers.
Authorities found that paid content supporting Georgescu was being promoted on Tiktok without marking it as election campaign time. In Tiktok, this kind of election influence is prohibited.
More than 25,000 Tiktok accounts participated in the influence. In addition, at least one user paid more than 360,000 euros to Tiktok for promoting Georgescu.
The unexpected election result raised doubts in Romania last week about Russia’s possible influence on the election, and the country’s Supreme Court even considered annulling the election result.
The Romanian authorities’ report talks about a state actor.
The report also reveals that the usage data of election websites was stolen and published online on cybercrime platforms whose country of origin was Russia.
According to intelligence authorities, a total of more than 85,000 hacking attempts were made during the election.
The second round of the Romanian presidential election will take place on December 8.