Romanian elections: Tiktokers and the election scandal

Shortly before the elections, the Romanian “stability and integrity” campaign was flooded. The influencers have downloaded videos describing what they were looking for in a future president: “stability”, “progress”, “Patriot”.

They did not mention a specific candidate.

They have been paid to download videos using these messages through a marketing platform called Fameup, which allows brands to use effective effects to promote products. But the influencers say they do not know who paid it.

Fameup refused to comment on the BBC.

“There is nothing shaded on this topic,” says Christina, an influential from the city of iasi. “In the back of her mind,” she said, she believed that one of the 14 candidates most likely paid her price, “I thought it was a smart approach. This does not do any political propaganda. It is something that encourages people to go out and vote.”

Some influencers did not specify the posts as paid content. This contradicts the tiktok rules, where the paid political announcement is banned.

Although the ads did not mention the name Georgsco, the influencers we spoke to described a “wave of comments” that supported him that appeared under the videos. “Immediately after I published the video, within a few seconds, I started receiving dozens of comments. In the end, I received about 300 comments, and all supported the independent candidate Calin Georgko … I was completely surprised,” said Romeo Rousseau, a small influencer from the city of Constanta with 25,000 followers.

The comments were focused after Tiktok mentioned in a report that it removed a network of more than 27,000 unreliable accounts. “I used fake personalities to publish comments related to the Roman elections.

It is still unclear who created these robot accounts.

Experts say that the non-relevant floods with the Pro-EGEORGESCU comments were a tick of Tiktok algorithm and his name, in turn leading to its content to more user summaries.

A spokesman for the Tiktok told the BBC that during the presidential campaign, the company had prevented millions from fake participation attempts, removing hundreds of thousands of random mail accounts, and preventing the impersonation of the character of political candidates, and disrupted three networks of secret impact with limited.

“We are still working closely with the local authorities and the European Union and partnership with local organizations to raise information about reliable elections,” they said.

The uncertainty about the campaign continued to the new year, until a sudden development in January.

The Roman Tax Authority revealed that the #StibleandinteGmentation campaign was paid by the right -wing National Liberal Party (PNL), who were supporting their candidate in the elections.

In response, PNL told the Romanian journalists at News Outlet Snop that their campaign was kidnapped to support Georgasco.