Romania's presidential elections face unprecedented social media chaos
It is difficult to predict who will win the presidential elections in Romania until the second round, especially given that the electoral campaign is heavily influenced by social media through aggressive propaganda, according to Sorin Ioniță, president of Expert Forum Romania.
He explained on the ÎN CONTEXT show that this phenomenon is being applied on an unprecedented scale in Europe, and neither Romanian nor European institutions have the necessary mechanisms to regulate propaganda influencing electoral processes.
“What has transpired in Romania in recent days is strange and without precedent. We face a serious problem: according to procedures, the electoral campaign for the second round should last five days. Today has passed without an electoral campaign. We don’t know if anyone will contest this fact. Legislative chaos has ensued as authorities have decided to restart the vote count from the first round. In Romania, the outcome of the elections heavily depends on who becomes president and who will appoint the person to form the Government. Therefore, we will not know anything for sure until the second round concludes. It is also unclear who will emerge as the winner, and tensions are at their peak. Sovereignists and isolationists are growing increasingly frustrated with state institutions, and propaganda continues, funded by black money on social media.”
According to the expert, Romania lacks the tools to stop the information warfare. “Propaganda continues with black money on social media. This tactic is being applied on an unprecedented scale in the European Union, not just in Romania. The European Commission is slow to respond because major social media platforms are regulated by it. Last week, I took part in hearings on social media, where measures were requested within a month. However, this does not aid in an electoral campaign lasting just a week. Europe has yet to effectively regulate a relatively new topic, such as the Digital Services Act (DSA), which introduced monitoring tools. Romania serves as a “test case.” It is likely that after this experiment, greater regulatory capacity will be developed in Europe. Currently, Romanian authorities lack the capacity to respond to politically funded propaganda on TikTok.”
Translation by Iurie Tataru
