The authorities in France have compiled a report regarding the elections in Romania, focusing on the manipulation of TikTok algorithms in favor of candidate Călin Georgescu. They discuss a coordinated mobilization of several thousand accounts that artificially boosted his visibility.
The document is titled „Manipulating algorithms and instrumentalizing influencers. Conclusions drawn from the presidential elections in Romania & risks for France.”
"The present report provides information on the manipulation of information targeting the presidential elections in Romania in 2024 (...) More precisely, the report analyzes the observed operating mode on the TikTok platform, aimed at artificially promoting certain content, as well as manipulating influencers. The report also assesses the risk of these methods being transposed to France," the document drafted in Romanian and French states.
The VIGINUM Service (Surveillance and protection against foreign digital interference) stated that "it aims to alert Internet users about the risk of manipulating content recommendation systems on platforms."
"Winning the first round of the presidential elections in Romania, which took place on Sunday, November 24, 2024, by Călin Georgescu, was quite surprising. With a candidacy presented in October and without declaring any campaign budget, he obtained nearly 23% of the votes (over 2 million votes) by campaigning almost exclusively online, especially on the TikTok platform.
Little known to the general public before the presidential elections, the candidate was credited with less than 1% of the voting intentions in polls conducted four weeks before the election and with 10.6% of the voting intentions between November 20 and 21," the report states.
According to the cited document, "following these results, numerous analyses highlighted the existence of digital informational phenomena aimed at disrupting the smooth running of the elections (...) signaling manipulations observed on the TikTok platform and the masked use of influencers for electoral propaganda purposes, suggesting the involvement of a foreign state actor."
"These informational operations were also accompanied by a large number of cyber attacks targeting information systems related to the electoral process, thus demonstrating the deployment of an extensive device aimed at destabilizing a major democratic event.
After Georgia and Moldova, Romania is the third European country affected, at the end of 2024, by large-scale manipulations of the electoral process," the document states.
According to French officials, TikTok is an extremely popular social network in Romania, with nearly 9 million users.
"The popularity of candidate Georgescu grew rapidly on TikTok, especially in the two weeks leading up to the elections.
For example, the number of subscribers and views on Călin Georgescu's TikTok account tripled between November 10 and 24, 20245.
The hashtags associated with the candidate also enjoyed a tremendous popularity, as is the case with #calingeorgescu, which, according to the European Digital Media Observatory, recorded over 73.2 million views in seven days. According to TikTok, the increase in the number of subscribers for accounts promoting this candidate did not follow a usual organic pattern, indicating a coordinated process," the document further states.
According to French officials, "this campaign was based, on the one hand, on the coordinated action of account networks and, on the other hand, on the exploitation of the popularity of influencers who were paid covertly."
"Furthermore, there is the issue of identifying the sponsor behind this coordinated operation, with Romanian authorities suggesting only the involvement of a foreign actor," the document concludes.