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In the lead-up to the recent elections in Romania, a campaign under the hashtag “stability and integrity” gained significant traction on TikTok. Influencers were seen sharing their visions of the ideal presidential candidate, emphasizing qualities such as “stability,” “progress,” and “patriotism.”
Interestingly, no specific candidate was mentioned in these posts.
The influencers, who participated in the campaign, were compensated for their efforts via a marketing platform named FameUp, which connects brands with influencers for promotional content. However, many influencers reported that they were unaware of the source of the funding for their posts.
FameUp did not provide a comment when approached by media representatives.
Cristina, an influencer based in Iasi, expressed that she initially perceived no wrongdoing in her involvement. She suggested that, although she suspected one of the 14 candidates might have financed the campaign, she viewed it as a positive initiative aimed at encouraging voter turnout rather than engaging in political propaganda.
Notably, some influencers failed to label their posts as paid promotions, which violates TikTok’s policy against paid political ads.
Despite the absence of direct endorsements for any candidate, many influencers observed a sudden influx of supportive comments for independent candidate Calin Georgescu on their videos. Romeo Rusu, a micro-influencer with 25,000 followers from Constanta, noted the shocking surge of comments shortly after posting, amounting to around 300, all advocating for Georgescu.
This phenomenon was highlighted in a recent TikTok report, which stated that the platform had eliminated over 27,000 inauthentic accounts responsible for posting related comments during the electoral period, though the creators of these accounts remain unidentified.
Experts suggest that this strategy of overwhelming unrelated posts with pro-Georgescu comments was likely aimed at manipulating TikTok’s algorithm, enhancing visibility for his content and thrusting his name into more users’ feeds.
A representative from TikTok revealed that during the presidential campaign, the platform took measures to block millions of fraudulent engagement attempts, erase hundreds of thousands of spam accounts, prevent impersonations of political candidates, and disrupt several covert influence networks.
They further emphasized their collaboration with local authorities and organizations to promote credible election information.
The ambiguity surrounding the funding of the campaign persisted through January, until a notable revelation emerged.
The Romanian Tax Authority disclosed that the #stabilityandintegrity campaign had been financed by the center-right National Liberal Party (PNL), which was backing its candidate in the elections.
The PNL later responded to inquiries from journalists, asserting that their campaign had been co-opted to promote Georgescu instead.
Source
www.bbc.com