A Facebook account that broke Meta advertising rules for election campaigning was viewed 179 million times without being suspended

Romania was scheduled to hold a presidential election from November 24 to December 8, 2024, but after a far-right, pro-Russian and independent candidate won the most votes in the first round, the Romanian government conducted an investigation and found that a large-scale election campaign including a large number of bot accounts had been carried out on platforms such as TikTok. The Romanian Supreme Court decided to invalidate the results of the first round of the presidential election on December 6, 2024. According to a report by digital threat research organizations Reset Tech and Check First, a similar election campaign was also carried out on Facebook, earning a total of 179 million impressions on 24 pages despite violating Meta advertising rules.

Research Note: Meta's Role in Romania's 2024 Presidential Election - CheckFirst
https://checkfirst.network/research-note-metas-role-in-romanias-2024-presidential-election/

(PDF file) Ads, Influence, and Democracy: Meta's Role in Romania's 2024 Presidential Election
https://checkfirst.network/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Research%20Note%20Ads,%20Influence,%20and%20Democracy_%20Meta%E2%80%99s%20Role%20in%20Romania%E2%80%99s%20Election.pdf

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-12-09/covert-facebook-network-found-to-be-targeting-romanian-voters

In the first round of the Romanian presidential election, which began on November 24, 2024, far-right, pro-Russian, independent candidate Karin Georgescu won the most votes. Georgescu, who had only a 5% approval rating in pre-election polls and no support from any political party, was conducting his election campaign mainly on social media, but there were suspicions of the use of bots and fraudulent advertising, and the Romanian National Agency for Communications Management and Regulation (ANCOM) conducted an investigation. As a result, it was discovered that a Romanian national had paid a total of $381,000 (approximately 57 million yen) to influencers who spread Georgescu's information on TikTok and Telegram. ANCOM requested the suspension of TikTok in Romania, and the Constitutional Court ordered a recount of the votes.

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 on TikTok to take first place in the presidential election - GIGAZINE

Research conducted by Reset Tech and Check First has pointed out that similar campaigns were carried out not only on TikTok but also on Facebook. Using Meta's transparency initiative, which provides details on advertisers using social media platforms, the researchers identified the campaign within Facebook and found that ads supporting Georgescu had been viewed 179 million times since August 2024.

There were 24 Facebook accounts supporting Georgescu, all of which were people or organizations that owned websites with advertising or email infrastructure. However, the linked sites lacked legal information, and many of them had common IP addresses and the same web design, so the researchers reported that they were 'centrally controlled fake sites.' Romanian media also reported on the results of their investigation into similar Facebook accounts, stating that 'the Union of Romanian Peoples had created a network of fake Facebook pages posing as news portals to spread propaganda and conspiracy theories.' Below are some of the political ads shown in the report, posted from different accounts using the same images and keywords.

Social media is an easy medium for spreading political ads and misinformation because it allows messages to be delivered to the target audience. Meta has an advertising policy that prohibits ads containing inappropriate language or misinformation, and its social issue, election or political advertising policy requires political campaigns to receive specific certification and state their political affiliation when running ads on Facebook. However, none of the Facebook accounts supporting Georgescu comply with Meta's advertising policy, as they either do not state their affiliation or attack other candidates.

In light of the report, Check First criticized Meta for not taking appropriate measures and allowing the campaign to run for several months leading up to the election, despite clear evidence and disclosure as early as April 2024 that the ad campaign supporting Georgescu may have violated Romanian electoral law in addition to violating Facebook's policies. Check First said, 'These findings highlight the vulnerability of tech giants in politically sensitive regions and underscore the need for stronger safeguards against threats to the electoral process. They also warn of possible new attempts to influence Romania's upcoming elections.'

Romania's media and Supreme Court have raised concerns over a series of large-scale, high-spending political campaigns supporting independent candidates, citing 'alleged Russian interference.' Siegfried Muresan, deputy leader of the Romanian Liberal Party, told Bloomberg, 'The danger is not over yet, and we expect Russia to continue trying to influence elections in Romania and other European countries.'

According to a report by Romania Insider, a news site in Romania, on December 9, 2024, Georgescu's donor and supporter, Bogdan Pesil, was arrested on suspicion of election corruption, money laundering, and weapons possession. However, Georgescu denied any involvement, saying he had never met Pesil and did not know him.