How Romanians fell for social media algorithms to vote for pro-Russian candidate
The rising impact of social media algorithms on public decision-making is raising concerns about democratic integrity, according to media entrepreneur Dragos Stanca.
Speaking to Global South World on Thursday ahead of the annulment of the result of the first round of the country's presidential election on Friday, Stanca explained how a “little-known candidate” gained massive traction ahead of the runoff election through algorithmic amplification and misinformation.
“People decided to choose their candidate for the presidential election like choosing the most-watched film on Netflix,” he said.
On Wednesday, December 4, declassified documents from Romanian security officials revealed that Calin Georgescu, a far-right, pro-Russian candidate, benefitted from significant promotion on TikTok. This included coordinated accounts, recommendation algorithms, and paid promotions.
Stanca warned that such reliance on social media platforms and unethical campaign strategies has led to widespread voter disillusionment. “They were floated by fake news, clickbait, and propaganda,” he noted.
Romania’s top court annulled the results of the first round on Friday, cancelling the second round vote scheduled for Sunday and necessitating a rerun of the entire election process.
Watch the full interview here:
