The Romanian presidential election has taken extraordinary turns. In the center of the controversies: TikTok. The researcher Valentina Pavel explains the issue at hand, and how EU legislation has been put to the test.
‘TikTok will deliver our president this year’, says George Simion on TikTok, the leader of the populist party Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) and presidential candidate who came in 4th place in the first round after Călin Georgescu, an independent nationalist candidate, Elena Lasconi from center-right party Save Romania Union (USR) and the current prime-minister Marcel Ciolacu from the socialist democrat party (PSD).
With 5-6 % in polls a couple of weeks before the elections, Călin Georgescu was largely ignored by mainstream media. Right before the elections, he appeared in a few interviews in alternative media and focused on TikTok as his main communication channel.
Four days before the elections he had between 8-10 % in polls, to then win the first round of presidential elections with over 22 % of votes (2.1 million votes). He has declared zero funds for his campaign, his team is supposedly run entirely by volunteers and he does not have a campaign headquarters.
Four days before the elections he had between 8-10 % in polls, to then win the first round of presidential elections with over 22 % of votes
How was this possible?
With these results taking many by surprise, this question is now on everybody’s mind. Journalists, social scientists, political analysts and social media experts are trying to understand and explain what happened.
TikTok is one of the most widely used social media platforms in Romania, alongside Facebook and Youtube. With 9 million TikTok users in Romania, close to half of the population has an account. This seemed to have been fertile ground for Călin Georgescu’s campaign which gained sudden traction just a few weeks before the elections.
However, this is not the full story. Some news reports paint a more complex picture where Călin Georgescu has gradually built his electorate over the years, by engaging face to face with different niches neglected by the political majority, instead of mainly through online means as many are led to believe. His name was proposed as potential prime minister a few times during governmental crises but was believed to be a self-proclaimed candidate and not someone which would seriously be taken into consideration.
Nevertheless, his digital engagement played an important part. Aside from his ‘official’ channel with 466.4 thousand followers and 5.2 million likes at the time of writing, there are multiple variations of ‘official’ accounts and popular hashtags promoting Georgescu, as well as countless accounts using his name, profile picture or mentioning support for him in the profile description.
Policy briefs from Romanian think-tank Expert Forum explain this sudden surge is the effect of ‘(i) a coordinated network of accounts directly promoting the candidate, and (ii) a group of influencers indirectly promoting the politician, without marking their content as paid advertising in any way’.
One such example is hashtag #echilibrușiverticalitate (#equilibrium and verticality) where influencers were paid to post a script-like version of Georgescu’s views, without naming him, but using similar language and ideas as Georgescu. Influencers were asked not to mark the posts as advertising or political promotion. After the elections, some influencers are now ‘repenting’ and say they have been misled and deceived and are changing their vote in the second round.
As underlined in Expert Forum’s policy brief, none of this content was labelled as political content, which goes against TikTok’s policies on political advertising and deceptive practices. While the platform declared that it had not spotted any suspicious activity during the presidential elections, there are open questions about the ‘bot-like behaviour’ of dozens of accounts supporting Călin Georgescu or attacking his rivals, as well as about the legality of Georgescu’s declaration regarding campaign costs, and who might be supporting him from inside and outside the country.
While Călin Georgescu’s TikTok campaign played an important part in the sudden boost, basic socio-economic factors are a root cause which cannot be ignored: there is massive revulsion against the current establishment and against the main center-left and center-right political parties PSD and the National Liberal Party (PNL) which are perceived as corrupt and self-interested.
Romania has the highest inflation rate and the highest at-risk-of-poverty level in the European Union.
These political parties formed a strong, but unpopular, coalition in the past three years and neglected to address stringent economic factors. Romania has the highest inflation rate and the highest at-risk-of-poverty level in the European Union. There is a major disconnect between the political class and the majority of Romanians are facing the serious challenges in their day-to-day life as fallout from COVID-19 and the military conflict at its border, with the Russia-Ukraine war running for close to three years now.
Who is Călin Georgescu?
Călin Georgescu is running as an independent candidate for the Romanian presidency and is calling for a radical transformation of Romanian society and economy. He promotes a return to traditional values and has a strong emphasis on national sovereignty. His platform rejects what he calls the ‘techno-globalist Matrix’, a system he claims is controlled by international elites that undermine Romania’s sovereignty.
He is critical of the EU and NATO, considering NATO the ‘weakest alliance on Earth’ and qualifying NATO’s ballistic missile defence shield on Romanian territory a ‘shame of diplomacy’. He promotes a strategy for peace and believes Romania needs to be ready to negotiate with any state, regardless of its inclinations, as long as Romania’s national interests come first.
He expresses admiration for Putin’s leadership and love for his country, and is controversial for praising the Romanian leaders of the 20th century fascist movement (considered illegal speech under Romanian law), statements which triggered the General Prosecutor to open a criminal file on the matter.
His economic vision is based on the concept of ‘sovereignty-distributism’ which appeals to concerns about globalization as a ‘third way’ between capitalism and socialism and aims for a return to economic self-sufficiency and small-scale production. His discourse is fueled by nostalgia for a pre-industrial Romanian society and seems to have a skeptical attitude toward technological progress and modernity.
His discourse is fueled by nostalgia for a pre-industrial Romanian society and seems to have a skeptical attitude toward technological progress and modernity.
He draws heavily on Orthodox Christian beliefs and values (e.g., defending the traditional family, considering C-section births a ‘tragedy because the divine thread is broken’), raising concerns about social inclusivity and individual freedoms.
Threatened democratic integrity
While there are many unknowns and speculations about the TikTok phenomenon, this is considered by political analysts and commentators a failure of all those bearing responsibility for ensuring the integrity of democratic processes: national authorities, political parties, the European Commission and social media platforms. This also includes excesses of competence, such as the Minister for Digitalization which has overtaken prerogatives to hold discussions with large platforms, without any justification and formal attributions.
National competent authorities did not publish any investigation or flagged any unusual activity before the elections. The prime-minister, also a presidential candidate, seems to have been outside-the-know and declared a couple of days after the first round of elections that he ‘did not receive any information about Călin Georgescu’s rise in popularity and his extremist views’.
No concerns were publicly raised by authorities and there was no public mention of the Digital Services Act (DSA), a EU regulation which brings strict rules for online intermediaries and platforms such as social networks, search engines and content-sharing platforms, especially regarding their responsibilities during election processes.
DSA enforcement put to the test
Two days after the results, the National Authority for Management and Regulations in Communications, ANCOM (which is the designated Digital Services Coordinator under the DSA) published a press release reminding about responsibilities under the DSA and mentioning it has been in ‘permanent contact’ with the European Commission and has presented the situation in Romania.
The same press release mentions that the Electoral Authority (AEP) notified TikTok about illegal content and requested the platform to take measures, without swift action from the platform. It is uncertain whether this notification was specifically about Georgescu’s campaign. For example, in September, TikTok’s report on covert influence operations mentions that it disrupted a ‘network operating from Romania and targeting a Romanian audience which created inauthentic accounts in order to spread misinformation and promote narratives critical of the current Romanian government’.
The European Commission did not offer any statements about previous discussions with national authorities or with representatives of very large online platforms (VLOPs) about their obligations under the Digital Services Act (DSA) ahead of the Romanian presidential elections. Amid mounting pressure, the European Commission now seems to have shifted from vague declarations about ‘closely monitoring developments’ to organizing a summit with Romanian authorities and platform representatives.
The European Commission reserved competence under the DSA as regulator for very large online platforms and search engines, with exclusive jurisdiction for monitoring and enforcing obligations related to systemic risks such as the integrity of election processes. In April this year, the European Commission also issued more detailed guidance for VLOPs on how to mitigate risks during election processes.
It is unclear how the European Commission performed its duties as a regulator and how, according to its own guidance, engaged with platforms such as TikTok to:
- implement mitigation measures and reinforce its internal processes ahead of national elections
- review and adjust platform recommender systems
- content labelling and moderation practices
- monitor influencer declarations of support
- preserve the integrity of the platform by preventing inauthentic accounts, botnets, or deceptive uses
Civil society organisations were among the first to react after the election results, with digital rights organisation ApTI Romania (Association for Technology and Internet) sending an open letter to the European Commission and to ANCOM, calling for a swift reaction on DSA rules and an investigation on what concrete measures were taken by VLOPS to mitigate the risks related to the electoral processes in Romania.
The National Audiovisual Council (CNA) also sent a similar letter to the European Commission to investigate the role played by TikTok in the presidential elections.
ANCOM’s vice-president, acting in his own capacity, initially called for a temporary ban on the platform until after the parliamentary and presidential elections are over. He then clarified that this was an exaggerated demand and that ANCOM cannot and will not suspend TikTok, which would go against the provisions on censorship in the Romanian Constitution.
More reactions followed from two other presidential candidates requesting the Constitutional Court to invalidate the results, and from the president convened the Supreme Council of National Defence (CSAT) to discuss potential foreign interference in the Romanian elections.
TikTok denying any interference or suspicious activity
Tiktok’s spokesperson denied any suspicious activity and said claims are ‘highly speculative’ and all political parties had an online presence on the platform.
While there has not been any announcement detailing how TikTok implemented the European Commission’s DSA guidelines ahead of the Romanian elections, the platform has ‘proactively partnered’ with the Romanian Electoral Commission (AEP) to set up an in-app dedicated resource center with reliable information and has partnered with a local organization against disinformation.
According to TikTok’s transparency report, there are 95 Romanian native-language content moderators, with no information if any of them are based in Romania, and without any indication whether the platform has increased the number of content moderators in the period before the elections. This is one example of a measure TikTok could have taken to reinforce its internal processes in accordance with the European Commission guidelines.
The platform has similarly not mentioned any issues around labelling political content, monitoring declarations from influencers as part of checks against deceptive or inauthentic activity, despite allegations from ANCOM’s vice-president that thousands of accounts have supported Călin Georgescu on TikTok with foreign financial support.
Increased public scrutiny needed
While the story is still unfolding and elections are continuing until 8 December (pending the Constitutional Court’s decision which admitted one of the two claims to invalidate the elections and asked for 9.4 votes to be recounted), it is imperative for national authorities, the European Commission and TikTok to closely collaborate and investigate what happened. With parliamentary elections and the second round of presidential elections fast approaching, these circumstances need clear public explanations and transparency. Important rules such as the DSA which seek to preserve democratic processes cannot be watered down by pointing fingers and avoiding responsibility.
With parliamentary elections and the second round of presidential elections fast approaching, these circumstances need clear public explanations and transparency.
Access to platform data through Article 40 of the DSA is an essential mechanism for transparency and accountability allowing researchers to perform independent scrutiny. This mechanism can be used to investigate potential manipulative practices used on TikTok and the platform should be open to working with researchers to address gaps and potential violations of company policies.
Similar patterns in Croatia?
The next Eastern European country called to the poll is Croatia, with the first round of presidential elections scheduled for 29 November. With fears of a growing pro-Russia front after contested elections in Moldova, Georgia, and now Romania, there is a sense of a larger trend of potential foreign interference unfolding in the former communist and soviet region.
Romania, together with other states in the Eastern NATO Flank, have become a priority for hostile activities from state and non-state actors, especially the Russian Federation
This seems to be confirmed by the press release of the Romanian National Defence Council (CSAT) which states that ‘in the current national security context and especially the electoral context, Romania, together with other states in the Eastern NATO Flank, have become a priority for hostile activities from state and non-state actors, especially the Russian Federation, which has an increased interest in influencing the public agenda in Romanian society and social cohesion’.
After the parliamentary elections in April this year, Croatia has reached an unprecedented right leaning government majority, and similar to Romania, Croatia sent an increased number of right leaning members to the European Parliament after the European elections in June. With 25 % of Croatians on TikTok (over 1 million users from a close to 4 million population), the Romanian elections serve as a cautionary tale for upcoming elections.
Valentina Pavel
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