TikTokers leave Romania amid scrutiny of their role in presidential election

Romanian TikTok influencers who helped promote anti-Western Romanian presidential candidate Calin Georgescu have left the country amid checks by tax authorities.

This, according to “European Truth”, was reported by Politico.

Romanian tax authorities have launched an investigation following a request from the electoral commission, which asked to examine financial transactions related to the election campaign more closely Georgescu.

TikTok influencers, some of whom have ties to organized crime, said they had left Romania just days before the searches began.

They posted images of the land border or planes, accompanied by captions like “goodbye” and “miss you.”

The influencers are accused of receiving large payments to promote content in favor of Georgescu – who officially declared zero campaign spending.

One of the key figures under investigation is Bogdan Peşcir, who allegedly paid Romanian TikTokers €1 million.

Last week, authorities raided three addresses linked to Peşcir, seizing $7 million in cryptocurrency as part of the investigation.

Some influencers had already distanced themselves from Călin Georgescu's campaign as his anti-Western and far-right views became more prominent. Some also admitted that they published content about Georgescu for payment, but allegedly did not know that he was a candidate for the presidency of Romania.

Recall that on December 6, the Constitutional Court of Romania annulled the results of the first round of voting and decided that the entire electoral process should start anew.

The reason was documents declassified by the Supreme Council of National Defense, according to which the campaign of the pro-Russian candidate Georgescu was the result of organized manipulation from abroad.