How could a far-right candidate who came out of nowhere be able to become a TikTok star in Romania in a few weeks, then arrive, to everyone's surprise, at the top of the first round of the presidential election held on Sunday, November 24?
Since Calin Georgescu, a discreet former senior civil servant with pro-Russian beliefs, aged 62, obtained nearly 23% of the votes after campaigning almost exclusively on the Chinese social network, the question has been on everyone's lips. It arises all the more since Romania, a member state of the European Union (EU) and bordering Ukraine, plays a key role in Western support for kyiv's army.
Wednesday, November 27, the Secretary of State and vice-president of Ancom – the regulatory authority for the media and digital sector, equivalent of Arcom in France –, Pavel Popescu, elected from the National Liberal Party (PNL , center right), announced that he wanted to initiate a procedure “suspension of the TikTok platform on the territory of Romania until the end of the investigation concerning the manipulation of the electoral process”, after the publication of disturbing elements on the role of the social network.
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On Tuesday, the Romanian National Audiovisual Council had already called on the European Commission to open an investigation, accusing “TikTok’s algorithms may have amplified content favorable to a certain candidate.” If the decision to suspend ultimately depends on the coalition government between the Social Democrats and the PNL, the current president, Klaus Iohannis, has urgently convened a national security council for Thursday in order to “to analyze the possible risks for national security on certain IT and technological infrastructures used for the electoral process”.
Suspending a social network for accusations of electoral manipulation would be a first in the European Union. The context is particularly sensitive as the current Romanian government provides essential support to Ukraine and voters are once again called to vote, for legislative elections, on Sunday 1is December, then for the second round of the presidential election, the following Sunday, during which Mr. Georgescu will face a pro-European candidate, Elena Lasconi.
A very discreet campaign in the real world
A network dedicated to video exchanges, TikTok is almost as popular as Facebook in Romania, with nearly nine million users (out of a population of 19 million inhabitants), and its audience goes well beyond youth. “For about a year and a half TikTok has even become the platform where most discussions take place in Romania”assures Madalina Voinea, social media specialist within the electoral monitoring NGO Expert Forum, who was among the first to observe the very disturbing growth of Mr. Georgescu's audience on the social network.
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