Ruling that Romania’s presidential election was invalidated due to TikTok, backed by Russian interference to support far-right candidates – GIGAZINE

On December 6, 2024, Romania’s Supreme Court issued a decision annuling the results of the first round of presidential elections in the country. In this election, an online campaign supporting pro-Russian candidate Karin Georgescu on platforms such as TikTok and Telegram was sponsored by the Russian government, and election infrastructure suffered over 85,000 cyberattacks. It has been reported that they have received.

The Commission has stepped up its monitoring of TikTok
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_24_6243

Romanian court annuls first round of presidential election | Romania | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/06/romanian-court-annuls-first-round-of-presidential-election

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/

Mr. Georgescu ran for Romania’s presidential election by declaring “zero spending on election campaigns,” but the unknown Mr. Georgescu has little recognition, and according to a public opinion poll conducted in October 2024, Mr. Georgescu The approval rating for the vote was less than 1%. However, in the first round of voting held on November 24, 2024, Georgescu won around 23% of the votes, beating Elena Lasconi and others who were considered to be the leading candidates in the presidential election.rose to the top.

In response, the Romanian government conducted an investigation into this election. As a result of an investigation by intelligence agencies, a Romanian national named Bogdan Pecil paid a total of $381,000 (approximately 57 million yen) to influencers who spread information about Georgescu on TikTok and Telegram. It was reported that a large-scale election campaign was being conducted using approximately 25,000 TikTok accounts.

Romanian regulatory authorities requested a temporary suspension of TikTok, saying “TikTok videos have too great an impact on election results”, as a pro-Russian/far-right independent candidate incited on TikTok and became number one in the presidential election – GIGAZINE

It has also been revealed that many bot accounts have been created on TikTok to boost Georgescu’s popularity, and TikTok says, “In Romania, bots have generated millions of fake likes.” ‘ or I am deleting my account.’Tell meI’m here.

It is believed that the Russian government is behind this large-scale online campaign supporting Mr. Georgescu. In fact, Georgescu made a pro-Russian remark in 2018, saying, “Russian President Vladimir Putin is a very patriotic leader.”

Germany’s Foreign Ministry said: “Reports by Romanian authorities that Russian disinformation is influencing Romania’s presidential election show that the Russian government seeks to divide us and undermine unity within the EU and NATO.” I can feel the intention,” he criticized.

Furthermore, the Romanian Information Service reported on November 19, 2024 that the IT infrastructure of the Permanent Election Authority (AEP) was targeted by a cyber attack. The attackers compromised a server with mapping data connected to the public web and AEP’s internal network, exposing account credentials for Romanian election sites, including the Central Elections Authority and voter registration site. The leaked data is posted on a Russian cybercrime forum.

According to the Romanian Information Agency (SRI), the attackers succeeded in infiltrating by targeting legitimate users and exploiting vulnerabilities in the training server for voting section operators. In addition, the number of cyber attacks has exceeded 85,000, resulting in damage such as falsification of election information and denial of access to the system.

In response to these online campaigns and cyberattacks, Romania’s Supreme Court decided on December 6, 2024 to cancel the results of the first round of voting on November 24. This will allow the presidential election to be rescheduled and a new election to be held after taking the necessary steps.

President Marcel Čolak said: “The results of this vote show that the results of the Romanian vote were blatantly distorted as a result of Russian government interference.The court’s decision is the only correct solution. “That’s it.”stateI’m here. On the other hand, Mr. Georgescu criticized this decision, calling it “a coup d’état attacking democracy.”

In addition, the European Commission has issued an order to TikTok based on the Digital Services Act (DSA) that “TikTok must preserve data that could affect the election process and citizen debate in the EU.” Furthermore, the European Commission reported that it will work closely with various institutions, including the Romanian security authorities, Europol and the EU Cybersecurity Agency.