Czech authorities are investigating hundreds of fake TikTok accounts that appear to be trying to influence the country’s upcoming general elections by spreading pro-Russian content critical of the EU and NATO and justifying Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to reports yesterday from Denik N.
The fake accounts also promote anti-system parties such as the far-right Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) and left-nationalist Stacilo!, which oppose the EU, NATO and Ukraine.
Czech Telecommunication Office (CTU) spokeswoman Tereza Merava confirmed to Denik N that the office is dealing with the fake accounts. According to the server, CTU is not dealing with the content disseminated by these accounts, but mainly with the fact that they are apparently robots. Anonymous sources from the state administration told Denik N that authorities believe these accounts are trying to influence the election.
According to the server, the evidence that these are fake automated accounts is, among other things, the fact that they have not mastered Czech diacritics, randomly switch to other languages, or accidentally refer to a situation in Africa instead of the Czech Republic.
The activity of fake accounts on TikTok was brought to the attention of the Centre for Research on Online Risks, an initiative of IT experts. Their analysis revealed nearly 300 linked accounts that artificially increase their reach to millions of hits per week by sharing and commenting on each other.
According to Vendula Prokupkova from the initiative, hundreds of interlinked accounts are spreading pro-Kremlin posts on TikTok. “The majority of these accounts also disseminate content supporting selected candidates of Stacilo!, SPD, PRO, Miroslav Sladek’s far-right Association for the Republic (SPRRSC) and other parties. However, this does not mean that the support is given with the knowledge of the candidates or parties in question. Moreover, the accounts are not tied to a single political entity, but combine support for multiple anti-system parties simultaneously,” she added.
Referring to two unnamed sources from the state administration involved in the case, the server said the authorities are convinced that the network of accounts is part of a troll farm and is attempting to interfere in the Czech parliamentary elections. The Czech Republic is addressing the situation with the European Commission and TikTok, reported Denik N.
