Romanian presidential election invalidated due to TikTok court ruling, citing Russian interference in backing far-right candidate
On December 6, 2024, the Supreme Court of Romania made a decision to invalidate the results of the first round of the country's presidential election. In this election, online campaigns supporting pro-Russian candidate Calin Georgescu were launched with the backing of the Russian government on platforms such as TikTok and Telegram, and the election infrastructure was reported to have been subjected to more than 85,000 cyber attacks.
The Commission has stepped up its monitoring of TikTok
Romanian court annuls first round of presidential election | Romania | The Guardian
Romania Scraps Election After Russian Influence Allegations - WSJ
https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/romania-scraps-election-after-russian-influence-allegations-0a2e8ba6
Romanian Elections Targeted By 'Aggressive Hybrid Russian Action,' Declassified Documents Show
https://www.rferl.org/a/romania-russia-election-interference-tiktok/33227010.html
EU puts TikTok on watch over election security | TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2024/12/05/eu-puts-tiktok-on-watch-over-election-security/
Georgescu ran for the Romanian presidential election declaring 'zero spending on election campaigns,' but the unknown Georgescu is not well known, and his approval rating did not reach 1% in a poll conducted in October 2024. However, in the first round of voting held on November 24, 2024, Georgescu surpassed Elena Rasconi and others who were considered to be leading candidates in the presidential election, and came in at the top with about 23% of the votes.
In response, the Romanian government launched an investigation into the election, which revealed that a Romanian man named Bogdan Pecil had paid a total of $381,000 to influencers who shared Georgescu's information on TikTok and Telegram, and that he had conducted a large-scale election campaign using approximately 25,000 TikTok accounts.
Romanian regulators demand that TikTok be temporarily suspended, citing 'too much influence of TikTok videos on election results' after a pro-Russian, far-right independent candidate incited people on TikTok to take first place in the presidential election - GIGAZINE
It has also become clear that numerous bot accounts have been created on TikTok to boost Georgescu's popularity, and TikTok has said that it is 'removing millions of fake 'likes' and accounts created by bots in Romania.'
The Russian government is believed to be behind the massive online campaign supporting Georgescu. In fact, Georgescu made pro-Russian statements in 2018, saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin was a very patriotic leader.
'Reports by Romanian authorities that Russian disinformation is influencing Romania's presidential elections show that Moscow wants to divide us and undermine solidarity within the EU and NATO,' the German Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Reports by Romanian authorities that Russian disinformation is influencing the presidential elections in #Romania show: Putin wants to divide us & to undermine the unity within the EU & NATO. But Europe stands strong. Together, we will protect our democracies from hybrid threats.
— GermanForeignOffice (@GermanyDiplo) December 5, 2024
In addition, the Romanian Intelligence Agency reported on November 19, 2024 that the IT infrastructure of the Permanent Electoral Administration (AEP) was targeted by a cyber attack. Attackers compromised a server with mapping data connected to the public web and the AEP's internal network, exposing account credentials for Romanian election sites, including the Central Electoral Administration and the voter registration site. The leaked data has been posted on a Russian cybercrime forum.
According to the Romanian Intelligence Agency (SRI), the attackers targeted legitimate users and also exploited vulnerabilities in the training servers for the voting section operators to gain access. The number of cyber attacks has reached more than 85,000, causing damage such as falsifying election information and denying access to the system.
In response to these online campaigns and cyber attacks, the Romanian Supreme Court issued a decision on December 6, 2024 annulling the results of the first round of voting on November 24. This will result in the presidential election being rescheduled and a re-election being held after taking the necessary steps.
President Marcel Colak said, 'The results show that the Romanian people's vote was blatantly distorted as a result of Russian interference. The court's decision is the only correct solution.' Meanwhile, Georgescu criticized the decision as a 'coup that attacks democracy.'
The European Commission also issued an order under the Digital Services Act (DSA) ordering TikTok to preserve data that could affect electoral processes and public debate in the EU. The Commission also reported that it would work closely with Romanian security authorities, Europol, the EU Cybersecurity Agency, and other agencies.
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