Romanian elections: Tiktkers and Electoral Scandal

Shortly before the election, the company using the hashtag “Stability and integrity” flooded the Romanian ticket. The influencers downloaded the videos describing what they are looking for in the future president: “Stability”, “Progress”, “Patriot”.

They did not name a specific candidate.

They paid the video download with these messages through a marketing platform called Fameup, which allows the brand to hire on the promotion of products. But the influential say they didn’t know who paid for it.

Fameup refused to comment on the BBC.

Christina, influential from the city of Iya, says that when she took to work, she felt that “nothing was shady.” She says that “in the back of her), she thought one of the 14 candidates probably paid for it and she” just thought it is a reasonable approach. It doesn’t make any political propaganda. It just urges people to go out and vote. “

Some influential participants did not mention the messages as paid content. This goes against the rules of the ciking where paid political advertising is prohibited.

While the advertisements do not mention the name of the st name, the impact we talked to, described the “wave of comments” that supported it, which appeared in the videos. Romeo Rusa, Microfunker from Konstanto with 25,000 followers, said: “Immediately after I posted the video, for a few seconds I started receiving dozens of comments. In the end, I received about 300 comments, and everyone supported the independent candidate in Kalinka … I was absolutely surprised.”

The comments were focused after the tick stated in the report that had removed the network from more than 27,000 invalid accounts that “used fictitious characters to post comments related to the Romanian elections.”

It is still unclear who created these bot accounts.

Experts say the floods are not related video from pro-Georgesk were tactics for playing Tiktok’s algorithm and get his name in trend, which in turn will push its content into more users submission.

The Tiktok press -secretary told the BBC that during the presidential campaign, the company “blocked millions of false engagement attempts, removed hundreds of thousands of spams, prevented political candidates and violated three hidden networks.”

“We continue to cooperate closely with the EU local authorities and cooperate with local organizations to increase reliable election information,” they said.

The uncertainty around the campaign lasted in the new year, until the turn was surprised in January.

Romanian’s tax administration showed that #stabilityandintegrity was paid by the National Liberal Liberal Center (PNL), which supported its own election candidate.

In response, PNL told Romanian journalists at News Outlet Snoop that their company had been stolen in support of Georges.