TikTok Accounts Promote Politician Ahead of Romanian Presidential Vote

In the weeks leading up to Romania's presidential election in November 2024, TikTok accounts that had previously focused on topics like manicures and fashion began promoting Calin Georgescu, a lesser-known politician. His posts, which included hard-line views on immigration and anti-Semitic themes, garnered 120 million views prior to the election. Georgescu, who had been polling in the single digits, achieved 23 percent of the vote in the first round of the election. Adriana Iamnitchi, chair of computational social sciences at Maastricht University, is investigating how pro-Georgescu content was monetized on TikTok through influencer marketing and livestreamed political content.