Romania, Moldova and TikTok: All Eyes on It
Romania made international headlines with a series of crucial elections in November and December, particularly after the shocking first round of the presidential vote won by pro-Russia candidate Călin Georgescu.
But Romania’s constitutional court annulled the result and ordered the process to restart following revelations that Georgescu benefitted from a mass influence operation conducted from abroad.
Romanian independent outlet Public Record published a special investigation into how dozens of Russian-coordinated websites and Telegram channels amplified Georgescu’s image through a sophisticated cross-border operation.
Read more in Narrative Break by Peter Georgiev and Kateryna Savranska.
The Kremlin machine behind Georgescu
The investigation details the operation dubbed “Portal Kombat” previously identified by a French state agency, now active in 19 countries. The narratives continued following the court’s decision to annul the vote. The Romanian version of the Pravda website—part of a group spreading Moscow-friendly stories—claimed the real reason behind the rerun is Georgescu’s willingness to stop the war in Ukraine. “Platforms like Telegram and pseudo-news outlets such as Pravda are no longer just communication tools—they’ve become powerful weapons for spreading disinformation”, the author of the investigation Matei Vrabie told Narrative Break. “Seeing how narratives portraying Georgescu as a nationalist savior were amplified through echo chambers, I realized these campaigns don’t just manipulate opinions; they actively reshape the political landscape by eroding trust in democratic institutions and exploiting the absence of accountability.”
A threat to democracy
Vrabie highlights that, in the era of unregulated social media, political campaigns have become vulnerable to such efforts. He was struck most by the sheer scale and precision of “Portal Kombat”, which blended foreign influence with localized narratives. In addition to Romania, Public Record found articles about Georgescu on Pravda websites in Germany, France, Spain, the Czech Republic, Portugal, Italy, Bulgaria, Poland, the Republic of Moldova, Hungary, Denmark, Slovakia, and Greece. “It opened my eyes to how seamlessly coordinated efforts can infiltrate public discourse and disrupt elections. Without stronger regulation and transparency, these digital platforms risk becoming battlegrounds for manipulation, where democracy itself becomes the biggest casualty”, Vrabie said.
Election echoes in Moldova
Romania’s neighbor also went through a crucial vote earlier this fall when its people supported pro-EU constitutional changes by the thinnest of margins and backed President Maia Sandu for a second term.
Russia attempted to derail the country’s pro-European trajectory through alleged voter fraud schemes and hybrid operations condemned by the European Parliament. Moldova closely followed Romania’s election saga as institutions were alarmed by the impact of TikTok on public discourse. “Politicians in key positions, such as the President of the Parliament, for example, were shocked by the impact of the platform on the electoral process in Romania, acknowledging that they do not know much about this platform,” Maria Genunchi, a journalist at Science+ partner Ziarul de Garda, told Narrative Break. “This demonstrates that, while initiatives to combat misinformation exist, a comprehensive strategy specifically addressing social media platforms like TikTok is missing, but it is urgently needed, especially in the context of the parliamentary elections, which will take place in our country in 2025.”
All eyes on TikTok
Genunchi wrote a long-form piece examining whether TikTok — currently more popular than Facebook and Instagram in Moldova — can become a serious security threat. “The platform demonstrated its ability to amplify messages rapidly among young voters and that makes it a powerful tool for political communication,” she said. “At the same time, TikTok’s vulnerabilities to misinformation, the lack of a well-defined monitoring mechanism, but also the fact that the platform has an opaque algorithm and Chinese ownership, heighten the risks of foreign interference in countries like Romania and Moldova, particularly from actors seeking to destabilize the region.” Despite its appeal to users, Genunchi believes TikTok remains underutilized by communicators and journalists, both due to a mistaken perception of its audience and a lack of experience in creating content adapted to it.
Not over yet
Despite the court’s decision to scrap the presidential election, the cross-border propaganda operation promises to leave a lasting impact on Romania’s political debate and erode trust in its institutions as the country awaits a new date for the vote. “By portraying figures like Georgescu as nationalist heroes and framing the annulment of elections as a “coup,” the network fosters a sense of injustice and fuels discontent among voters,” Vrabie said. “This narrative can mobilize certain segments of the population — those feeling disenfranchised or skeptical of Western alignment — to rally behind candidates associated with sovereigntist or anti-establishment ideologies. Moreover, the network’s use of platforms like Telegram and Pravda to create echo chambers ensures that these narratives are repeated and reinforced, effectively shaping voter perceptions.”
