A new report from investigative outlet snoop.ro reveals that the center-right Romanian National Liberal Party launched a campaign on TikTok that ended up endorsing far-right independent candidate Călin Georgescu.
Georgescu rose from obscurity to front-runner in the first round of Romania’s presidential election on November 24. , similar to the Kremlin’s influence operations in Ukraine and Moldova.
According to snoop.ro, the Romanian tax agency discovered that the Liberal Party paid for social media activities on TikTok through influencers and promoted hashtags, but the hijacked hashtags ended up benefiting Georgescu. The Liberal Party is the junior coalition partner of the outgoing government, and their candidate Nicolae Ciuca came in fifth place in the canceled first round of elections.
The National Liberal Party paid an outside firm, Kensington Communications, to run the social media campaign. “If a campaign is cloned or hijacked in favor of a particular candidate, we ask the competent authorities to verify and take necessary legal action,” Kensington Communications wrote in a statement. The company also said it sent The campaign script given to influencers has been changed.
The cancellation of Romania’s first round of presidential elections has plunged the country into a deep political crisis. In response to the situation in Romania, the European Commission has launched a formal investigation into how TikTok managed the risk of election interference.
