🟦🗳⚡️ Journalists uncovered that some 130 TikTok influencers, who were accused of taking Russian money to promote Călin Georgescu to their audiences, were actually paid by the National Liberal Party!

They promoted a hashtag, #EchilibrușiVerticalitate which was named in one of the reports declassified by the Supreme National Defense Council, to be ”akin to the TikTok campaign ”Brother for Brother” which was promoted by Russia prior to invading Ukraine.

The influencers promoted these two qualities, ”equilibrium (balance)” and ”verticality” as the ”right ones” for a Romanian president, and answered ”Călin Georgescu” to users leaving comments asking who are they referring to.

The investigation revealed the firm paying them gave them guidelines on how to make TikTok posts promoting this ”candidate” and how to avoid TikTok's safeguards for political content, which the influencers respected.

However, when analysing the posts with the guidelines, journalists noticed that the hashtags used were different but similar at the same time. Rather than using #EchilibrușiSeriozitate as was instructed, the influencers changed it to #EchilibrușiVerticalitate.

PNL paid the firm who managed those 130 influencers and didn't complain, didn't tell anyone that their hashtags were changed. Responding to journalists the marketing firm said the campaign was meant to get people to vote in general, not for someone specifically, but didn't answer questions if they knew that their instructions were deliberately disregarded.

📝: The only theory that makes sense in light of these finds is that PNL tried to set up PSD to fail after the Constitutional Court booted Diana Șoșoacă off the president candidate list, which many believed led to a scenario Marcel Ciolacu vs George Simion and liberals would have been ”forced” to vote for Ciolacu instead of Simion because a liberal will never pick a nationalist. In other words, PNL or someone within PNL may have propped up Călin Georgescu to take revenge on PSD.

🔗 https://hotnews.ro/documente-pnl-a-finantat-din-bani-publici-campania-pentru-calin-georgescu-firma-pnl-sustine-ca-i-a-fost-modificata-campania-dar-exista-acte-care-dovedesc-ca-influencerii-au-respectat-indicatiile-pr-1866568

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