Romanian authorities have revealed details of a major attempt to interfere in the country’s presidential election and a series of cyber-attacks using the social media platform TikTok.
Romania’s domestic intelligence service says there are signs the effort was “coordinated by state-sponsored actors”.
Calin Georgescu, a right-wing Nato-skeptic who has previously praised Vladimir Putin, was almost unknown in Romania until he won the first round of voting in the presidential election two weeks ago.
Now the sudden and surprising surge in popularity of Romanian intelligence is down to a “highly organized” and “guerrilla” campaign on social media, sharing similar messages and using influencers.
He says it was conducted from “outside places” to bypass controls.
A separate intelligence assessment says Romania has been identified by Moscow as a “hostile state” and a priority target for what it calls “offensive hybrid measures”.
The politically explosive information, which comes just days before the second round of voting, comes from classified documents released this evening by outgoing President Klaus Iohannis.
They reveal how paid content supporting Georgescu was promoted on TikTok, without identifying it as election campaigning, in violation of the platform’s own rules and Romanian electoral law. Other candidates’ content is subject to closer controls.
Georgescu has always said he spent “zero” on the election campaign, which he also denied campaigning for.
But intelligence documents identify one TikTok account that they say made the $381,000 payment. (£299,819; €361,872) in just over a month from 24 October – to users promoting Georgescu.
Georgescu claimed the release of the documents was a concerted effort to block his candidacy.
“I think this is the first time in the history of the world that a state is organizing action against a candidate to prevent him from contesting,” he said in a TV interview on Wednesday.
He denied knowing any of the influencers or funders mentioned in the report.
The documents released in this highly unusual move are all papers created for the Security Council meeting after the first round of presidential elections.
They reveal that access data to election websites has been stolen from legitimate users and published online on “Russian-based cyber-crime platforms.”
Separately, intelligence agencies report about 85,000 hacks in an attempt to access and alter the content of election data, including on Election Day. Cyber attackers used sophisticated methods to remain anonymous, the report said, working in a manner and scale “typical of state-sponsored actors”.
An investigation is underway as to who is responsible and whether the election was affected in any way.
Russia has denied any interference in Romania’s election process.
Right-wing frontrunner Georgescu will face reformist candidate Elena Lasconi in Sunday’s second round of voting.
Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu – who finished 3rd in the presidential race – has now announced that he “fully endorses” Elena Lasconi.
But that assumes the vote goes ahead. The prosecutor’s office is now reviewing the new documents.
“Based on the evidence published today, I hope the state authorities will take appropriate action and hold all those responsible accountable,” Ciolaku said.
He said the people’s votes showed they wanted “the continuation of Romania’s European development path”.
A pro-EU protest has been called for Thursday evening.
Commenting on the protests, Georgescu warned against possible unrest, citing “Maidan” in Ukraine – the 2014 revolution that ousted a pro-Russian president.
“Please stay at home with your family. We need social calm. God will not let Romania down,” Georgescu said.
