Five confidential reports from different Romanian institutions and organizations were made public by the country’s president upon request.
Declassified information from Romanian intelligence agencies revealed that: sudden rise of populist candidate Far-right Calin Georgescu’s participation in the first round of last month’s presidential election was “not a natural outcome.”
Instead, reports suggest that it is a result of a coordinated social media campaignmost likely run by a “state actor”. Romanian President Klaus Iohannis made public five confidential reports from various national institutions and organizations on Wednesday. election interferenceAt the request of the institutions that wrote them.
A. private network that previously operated mainly on TikTok and has been virtually inactive since its launch in 2016, It came into effect two weeks before the elections. The national intelligence agency SRI concluded that the network operators, recruited and coordinated through a channel on the Telegram messaging platform, used methods typical of a state actor’s “mode of modus operandi.”
Immediate clarification of problems
HE SRI also reported almost 1 million euros were spent on the campaign Up to 950 euros were paid for re-nomination by a person who supported Georgescu’s candidacy. to have TikTok admitted to receiving 362,500 Euros from this person last week.
On Tuesday, TikTok representatives testified before the court. European Parliament Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection It was stated that the Chinese platform had removed “66,000 fake accounts and many fake followers” targeting Romanians since September.
Under the new EU Digital Services Law, Political ads on major platforms like TikTok are now tightly policed. The confidential reports were first presented at last week’s meeting of the Romanian Supreme National Defense Council (CSAT) and were subsequently forwarded to the relevant legal and regulatory bodies. take necessary measures urgently“According to a press release from the President’s office, he took action in accordance with his statutory authority to clarify the issues presented at the CSAT meeting.”
Now the big question is What will be the impact of these statements? In the second round of the presidential elections scheduled for next Sunday. Georgescu has repeatedly denied spending money on his campaign.but recent discoveries may lead you to: be accused of illegal campaign financing.
