In addition to Tiktok, thousands of ads were published on behalf of the Romanian Călin Georgescu on Meta’s platforms.
11:29•Updated 11:33
A coordinated network systematically tried to influence the outcome of the Romanian presidential election in November, according to a recent report by the international research organization Reset Tech.
The first round of the elections was won completely unexpectedly by a pro-Russian nationalist Călin Georgescu.
The Romanian Supreme Court annulled the results of the first round of the presidential election at the end of last week.
Georgescu has claimed that he did not spend any money on his election campaign.
However, nearly 4,000 ads supporting him have been published on social media giant Meta’s platforms on Facebook and Instagram, the report reveals.
The ads have had a total audience of almost 150 million people during this fall. They have cost hundreds of thousands of euros.
Meta allowed dishonest campaigning on its platforms
According to the report, the social media campaign that supported Georgescu seems coordinated. This means that someone systematically tried to manipulate the election.
The report does not take a position on who financed the campaign.
Georgescu, who spreads conspiracy theories and pro-Russian content, would probably be a president well liked by the Kremlin. However, according to the report, there is not enough evidence of Russia’s role.
According to the report, Georgescu’s ads contained, for example, strong anti-EU and NATO, smearing and ultra-nationalist themes.
Until now, it has been suspected that Georgescu has been campaigned by dishonest means, above all on the social media channel Tiktok.
Based on the report, the social media giant Meta has also allowed election influence on its platforms.
According to it, Meta has accepted many of Georgescu’s ads without the required labeling of political content or the buyer of the ad.
The decision came just a day before the second round was scheduled to take place.