Alleging improprieties mostly through the manipulation of social media, specifically TikTok, Romania’s highest court has ruled to nullify the first round of elections that saw Pro-Russian ultranationalists Calin Georgescu win despite polls showing him far behind.
The court alleges multiple campaign violations through TikTok manipulation, which included the creation of fake online accounts, fake polls, and illegally paying influencers to send the campaign’s approved message (without revealing their sponsorship to their audience). Now, Romania considers regulations of social media to assure a repeat of this election doesn’t happen.
Romania’s cancelled election is a lesson in social media manipulation – ft.com
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Excerpt:
Romania shocked the world last month when it voted for an outsider with ultranationalist views as president. Călin Georgescu was polling poorly just weeks before the election. TikTok was crucial to his sudden success. It also appears to have been a key facilitator of foreign interference from Russia.
Romania’s constitutional court has since opted to annul the results of the first election round. All eyes are once more on social media platforms and their ability to influence election outcomes. Until now, extraordinary discretion has been left to the companies curating our information ecosystem — Romania may turn the tide.
Suspicious online accounts, polls and paid influencers sharing political content are all seen as key online tools for influencing Romanian votes.
Within the country, intelligence services have accused Russia of aggressively using TikTok to promote Georgescu. The US state department describes “malign cyber activity”. In Europe, the Digital Services Act (DSA) has been invoked to impose a “retention order” that demands TikTok preserve all data related to European elections for scrutiny. A company representative for TikTok emphasised its compliance with EU law in a recent hearing before the European parliament.
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