Romania: When Fake News Overturns Elections

For the first time, an election has been annulled not due to material fraud or documented irregularities, but because of the decisive influence of fake news. The decision of the Romanian Constitutional Court, which on Friday, December 6, 2024, invalidated the first round of the presidential elections, is historic. It sends a clear signal about how digital information manipulation can pose a direct threat to democratic processes.

What happened in Romania?

The 2024 Romanian presidential elections took place in an already polarized context, with internal and external tensions linked to the war in Ukraine and geopolitical dynamics between Europe and Russia. The sovereigntist pro-Russian candidate, Călin Georgescu, received 22.4% of the votes in the first round, raising many questions about his rapid rise.

Indeed, after the vote, intelligence documents declassified by the Romanian Supreme Defense Council revealed a complex disinformation operation orchestrated by a foreign country through social media, particularly TikTok. A network of 25,000 pro-Georgescu accounts spread anti-Western messages and populist promises. The investigation uncovered covert funding of over one million euros from unidentified sources to support his campaign.

This digital propaganda network disproportionately impacted younger voters, the primary users of TikTok, disseminating two main messages: opposition to Western alliances like NATO and the EU, and an end to support for Ukraine, aligning with Russian narratives. Simultaneously, it was revealed that Georgescu had not declared any official electoral expenses despite his extensive online visibility.

Evidence of foreign interference, particularly from Russia, led the Constitutional Court to conclude that the electoral process had been compromised to the extent that it could not be considered fair. The decision was based on Article 246 of the Constitution, which grants the Court the authority to “ensure compliance with procedures for the election of the President of Romania.”

The precedents of Kenya and Ukraine

The Romanian decision is unprecedented, although it follows a series of episodes where media manipulation played a crucial role. In Kenya’s 2017 elections, the Supreme Court annulled the presidential vote due to technical and illegal irregularities, amid a massive disinformation campaign orchestrated in part by Cambridge Analytica. The company had harvested personal data from 87 million Facebook accounts without consent and used it for political propaganda.

Another significant case is Ukraine in 2004, during the “Orange Revolution,” when the Supreme Court annulled the presidential runoff due to systematic fraud, including the use of state media to spread disinformation in favor of Viktor Yanukovych.

In both cases, information manipulation played a significant role but was not the primary reason for annulling the vote. In Romania, however, fake news was the decisive factor.

The role of the European Union

Beyond the specific case, the annulment of the elections in Romania marks a new phase in the debate on electoral integrity. For years, Western democracies underestimated the scale of disinformation, treating it as an abstract or secondary threat.

In January 2018, the European Commission established for the first time an expert group to provide guidance on policy initiatives to combat fake news and online disinformation. In their final report, the experts even avoided using the term fake news, deeming it inadequate to explain the complexity of the disinformation problem and instead focused on issues related to online disinformation rather than false news.

Subsequently, awareness grew: on June 1, 2020, EDMO (the European Digital Media Observatory) was established, headquartered at the European University Institute in Florence, with branches in all European countries. Its mission is to promote the development of EU-approved fact-checking services, support media literacy programs, assist national regulatory authorities, and oversee reliable data sharing. Between 2023 and 2024, the European Media Freedom Act was adopted to protect and promote quality journalism, alongside the Digital Services Act to increase transparency and fairness on major web and social platforms. These are significant steps, but the Romanian case shows they are not enough.

We now know that fake news can not only influence but also disrupt an electoral process. Hence, the need not only to regulate digital platforms to prevent harmful and illegal content online but also to implement oversight strategies managed directly by institutions rather than the platforms themselves. The EU’s request to TikTok to preserve data related to the Romanian elections is a first step, but much more needs to be done across various domains.

For example, legal experts could establish clear and consistent criteria for annulling elections in cases of media manipulation. Otherwise, there is a risk that this could become a tool for those dissatisfied with the election results. Proving a direct link between disinformation and vote alteration is complex but increasingly critical. On the information front, it is essential to counter foreign interference with increasingly effective security strategies, especially in countries with fragile or newer democracies that are more exposed to geopolitical influences.

Democracy in the digital age

The Romanian case is a wake-up call for all modern democracies. It is now evident that guaranteeing the physical integrity of the vote—guarding polling stations to prevent ballot tampering overnight—is no longer sufficient; it is also essential to protect the digital space where voters form their opinions.

Disinformation is not just a matter of freedom of expression or a debate among journalists and media professionals but a concrete threat to democratic legitimacy. Romania, with its historic decision, sends a clear message: the era of elections immune to fake news is over. The future of democracy depends on our ability to safeguard the truth.