US EditionAnonymous TikTok Accounts Spread Pro-Russia Content Ahead of Czech Election: Study
Nearly 300 TikTok accounts pushed pro-Kremlin propaganda and radical parties, generating up to 9 million weekly views, Czech analysts said.
- On Sunday , Online Risk Labs said 286 TikTok accounts spread pro-Russia narratives and promoted radical parties ahead of the Czech Republic's Oct 3-4 election.
- By automatically liking, sharing and commenting within seconds, the troll farm operation bypasses TikTok recommendation system using more than 250 reposting accounts built in layers.
- Some clips gained hundreds of thousands of views within hours, and the linked accounts together drew between 5 million and 9 million weekly views, showing automation indicators like poor Czech diacritics and random language switches.
- The Czech Telecommunication Office has contacted TikTok and handed complaints to the European Commission, with regulators saying TikTok blocked some accounts while Moscow denied the accusations.
- Similar interference has occurred in Europe, including Romania where a presidential election was annulled last year, and experts warn recommendation systems can be manipulated, especially as nearly a quarter of Czechs use TikTok and the platform has over 2 million users in the Czech Republic.
23 Articles
23 Articles
Czech analysts from Online Risk Labs discovered hundreds of TikTok accounts spreading pro-Russian messages ahead of the October 3-4 parliamentary elections.
Anonymous TikTok accounts backing radical parties before Czech vote, study finds
Hundreds of anonymous accounts on video-sharing platform TikTok have been increasingly active in spreading pro-Russia narratives and backing radical parties ahead of the Czech Republic's October 3-4 election, a non-governmental group said on Sunday.
The Czech Republic Threatened by Russian Interference, a Few Days From Crucial Legislative Elections
Nearly 300 TikTok accounts of Russian origin, which support parties calling for NATO and the EU to leave, have been identified on the networks, totalling nearly 10 million views per week.
The case is already being investigated by Czech authorities.
Czech authorities uncover pro-Russian TikTok bot network aiming to sway elections
Czech authorities have identified and opened an investigation into a network of nearly 300 bot accounts on TikTok that are amplifying pro-Russian narratives and campaigning for anti-system parties - chiefly SPD, Stačilo! and PRO, Deník N reported, citing government sources. According to the Center for the Study of Online Risks, several “content creators” sit at the core of the network, with videos drawing up to 250,000 views. Around them, hundre…
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