Romania's Presidential Administration has declassified the reports provided by the intelligence services (SRI, SIE), the Foreign Ministry (MAE), and the special telecommunication services (STS) to the Supreme Council of National Defence (CSAT), which, in its November 28, said that "cyber attacks with the aim of influencing the correctness of the electoral process" took place and, separately, that a "candidate for the presidential elections benefited from a massive exposure due to the preferential treatment that the TikTok platform granted him by not marking him as a political candidate."

Compared to the magnitude of the claims reported by the intelligence services, it remains unclear why no action was taken to prevent the impact of the criminal deeds on the electoral process.

Following the CSAT meeting, the Romanian authorities took no action against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu other than the press release published by the Council, which explained that it had no specific formal involvement in the electoral process and that the state's institutions, including the prosecutor's office, will do their job. The members of the Romanian state did not attend the hearing of TikTok representatives in the Commission for the Internal Market and Consumer Protection of the European Parliament, where the Chinese platform rejected any favoritism allegations.

The reports, published by the Presidential Administration, reveal massive financing for pro-Russian candidate Calin Georgescu, which supported his TikTok campaign, spotted as the ninth-strongest at the global level during November 13-26 ahead of the presidential elections. The campaign resulted in the sharp advance of Georgescu's electoral support from some 6% to over 20% in the first round of the presidential elections. 

The internal intelligence services SRI singles out TikTok user Bogdan Peşchir with the account "bogpr" who has donated over EUR 1 million for Georgescu's electoral campaign on the platform and reveals that TikTok has failed to tag as a political campaign the messages circulated by paid influencers in favor of Georgescu. 

Estimates by Romanian experts put the financing of Calin Georgescu's campaign at over EUR 50 million and more than EUR 3 million per day in some periods. However, Georgescu reported no (RON 0) expenditures for his presidential campaign.

SRI indicated that the financing of TikTok influencers was ensured through the FameUp platform, which is dedicated to the monetization of promotional activities in the online environment at the level at which the advertising opportunity was published.

According to the report submitted by external intelligence services SIE to CSAT, "Romania is a target for Russian hybrid actions, including cyber attacks and information leaks and sabotage."

iulian@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Presidency.ro)