Romania’s decision to scrap its presidential election over alleged foreign interference is looking shakier by the day, according to Polish MP Janusz Cieszyński. After reviewing classified Romanian intelligence reports, he argues there’s little proof of a significant outside influence campaign—let alone one linked to Russia.
“I am disclosing classified documents on invalidated elections in Romania,” Cieszyński, a member of Poland’s Law and Justice (PiS) party and former digital affairs minister, announced.
For context, Romania’s Constitutional Court nullified last year’s presidential election despite no confirmed fraud. The establishment’s pick, Social Democrat Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, failed to make it past the first round. Instead, the relatively unknown right-wing candidate Călin Georgescu shocked everyone by securing 23% of the vote, defying polls that had him between 4% and 10%. USR leader Elena Lasconi came in second. Officials quickly blamed his success on a supposed Russian-backed TikTok campaign.
Cieszyński, citing reports from Romanian intelligence and TikTok’s response to the European Commission, isn’t buying it. According to him, the so-called “Russian operation” was nothing more than a Telegram channel with 3,800 followers, which encouraged users to share Georgescu’s campaign materials across social media. TikTok’s own review found that 1,183 accounts used a pro-Georgescu hashtag—out of roughly 10 million Romanian users—while just 157 were created after the Telegram channel launched. Additionally, 76 accounts were flagged as explicitly pro-Georgescu.
One of the few financial transactions flagged involved a user identified as Bogdan Peschir, now in Romanian custody. He allegedly funneled $381,000 to 131 influencers, with $132,000 going to just nine accounts that later displayed Georgescu’s image or the logo of the AUR party, which Georgescu once belonged to. Meanwhile, TikTok removed hundreds of posts it deemed disinformation, including claims that a Georgescu loss would trigger protests.
Even so, the actual money trail doesn’t suggest a major operation, Cieszyński insists. The total sum—less than 1.5% of Romania’s legal campaign spending cap—doesn’t point to an international plot. More importantly, TikTok itself concluded there wasn’t enough proof of secret foreign interference.
“No evidence has been revealed that we were dealing with a foreign influence operation,” Cieszyński noted, citing the Venice Commission’s findings. He also questioned why TikTok was being singled out when similar content spread on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.
“We must be very careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater,” he warned. While some account networks may have been active during the election, they weren’t significant, and so far, no one has produced solid evidence linking them to Russia.
