BBC writes about the accused influences of provoking an “electoral scandal” in November, a few days before the elections
The BBC has published an article, a few days before the elections, in which he reminds the campaign held on Tiktok of former candidate Călin Georgescu.
Influencers Cristina Horez and Lucian Elgi Photo Instagram
In the beginning, the BBC mentions the shock that the far -right candidate Călin Georgescu challenged through his victory in the first round, but also that Moscow denied interference in elections.
Next, the publication also reminds the fact that the Central Electoral Bureau (BEC) rejected Georgescu's candidacy in the May elections, subsequently accusing the authorities of “the invention of evidence to justify the theft of elections ”.
Returning to the canceled elections, before the first round, the surveys showed that Georgescu had a score of 3-5% voting intention. He had stated that he spent zero lei for the campaign, the fact that he did not have a headquarters for the campaign and did not engage in traditional campaigns.
He held his campaign on Tiktok, where he publishes videos where “Calating horses in a traditional costume, practice judo”recalls the publication. Thus, he went viral on Tiktok a few weeks before the elections and climbed the polls, eventually winning almost 22.9% of the votes.
According to a report published by Expert Forum, the explosive growth that Georgescu enjoyed on Tiktok was created “suddenly and artificially – in accordance with the way he exploded in polls. “
Next, the BBC reminds of the influencers paid to promote Georgescu indirectly, but also of the documents declassified by the CSAT.
Shortly before the elections, a campaign using the hashtag “balance and verticality” flooded the Romanian tiktok. The influencers uploaded videos in which they described what they were looking for in a future president: “stability”, “progress,” patriotism “, without mentioning the name of a candidate.
They were paid to upload videos with these messages through a marketing platform called Fameup, which allows brands to hire large -scale influences to promote products. But the influencers say they didn't know who paid for them.
Fameup refused to comment for the BBC.
Cristina, an influencer from Iasi, said that when she accepted the offer “He didn't think there was nothing dubious about it. ”
She says “In the mind [ei]” thought that probably one of the 14 candidates paid for her and “It was thought to be a smart approach. That does not mean political propaganda. It just encourages people to vote.”
Some influences have not marked the content as paid advertising, which is against the Tiktok regulation. On the Chinese application, the paid political advertisement is eliminated.
A Tiktok spokesman told the BBC that during the presidential campaign, the company “He has blocked millions of false interactions attempts, eliminated hundreds of thousands of spam accounts, prevented the impersonation of political candidates and interrupted three limited coverage networks.”
“We continue to collaborate closely with local and EU authorities and associate with local organizations to raise reliable electoral information ”they said.
ANAF revealed that the campaign #Stability and integrity was paid by the National Liberal Party (PNL), by the center-right, which supported its own candidate in elections.
In response, PNL told the Romanian journalists from Snoop that their campaign was hijacked to support Georgescu, BBC notes.
BBC reminds Bogdan Peșchir
Bogdan Peșchir Photo Inquam
The publication also reminds of Bogdan Peșchir, accused of committing the crime of corruption of voters by electronic means of communication (265 material acts). Peșchir was known in Romania as the “King of Tiktok”, famous because he offered gifts to influencers, that is, virtual currencies that can be converted into real money.
It offered payments worth over $ 879,000 on the Tiktok application, in the form of “gifts”, and transfers of hundreds of thousands of lei through the Revolut application, to 265 people, to cause to vote for Georgescu.
The BBC also discussed with Lucian Elgi, a Romanian artist who acknowledged that he received thousands of dollars from Peșchir, through gifts on Tiktok.
He says he believes that these payments have been made in support of his activity as a musician. Elgi denied that he would have promoted Georgescu. The BBC could not confirm this, because his videos on Tiktok – along with those of other people who were paid by Peșchir – were eliminated.
However, Elgi confesses that his content is not about choices, but about manele. However, several Manelists received money from Peșchir to campaign to Georgescu.
Elgi said that his videos were flooded by pro-Georgecu comments. “It was crazy ”he says. “Each post, comments like: Georgescu president, Georgescu president, Georgescu president! ”
There are many unknown about the cancellation of the elections. The investigations are ongoing to the European Commission and the highest courts in Romania. While Romanians are worried about the alleged foreign interference, many are outraged by the fact that there is still no public evidence that will undoubtedly demonstrate Russia's interference in elections.
