Romanian officials made public some eye-opening info about their presidential race (showing how social-media played a big part in pushing an unexpected far-right candidate to the final round)
The just-released papers from multiple state agencies show how TikToks platform became a key-player in spreading non-standard political content. Government research found that poor content checking and weird money flows helped create this situation: leading to various law-breaking activities
Investigators think theres more to the story than just social-media problems. The docs point to Moscow as a possible behind-the-scenes player in this political shake-up; which is extra-important since Romania is part of NATO. “The evidence suggests a well-planned effort to influence our democratic process“ [[Senior Romanian Security Official]]
The outgoing president made these findings public right before the weekend run-off vote – showing how social-networks can change politics in ways nobody saw coming. The whole thing raises questions about how ready social-media companies are to stop their platforms from being used in ways that hurt democracy