Pro-Russian messages on TikTok: Czech analysts find a network of accounts with millions of followers before the election
29 September 21:47
A group of Czech researchers, Online Risk Labs, has identified 286 TikTok accounts that spread pro-Russian narratives ahead of the Czech parliamentary elections. This was reported by DW, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
Their weekly reach is estimated to be between 5 and 9 million views, which exceeds the total audience of the official accounts of the country’s leading political parties.
What messages were spread
According to experts, the accounts were not tied to a specific political force, but supported several radical and populist parties.
The most commonly used theses in the videos were:
- justification of Russia’s war against Ukraine;
- criticism and distrust of the European Union and NATO;
- promotion of SPD (Freedom and Direct Democracy ) and Stačilo!
Regulator’s reaction
The Czech telecommunications regulator CTU said it had received a number of complaints about the content from these accounts.
“We have found these complaints to be substantiated and have forwarded them to the European Commission as the supervisory authority for large platforms,” the CTU said.
At the same time, officials from TikTok and the Czech Ministry of the Interior have so far refrained from commenting.
Why it matters
Almost 25% of Czech citizens actively use TikTok. This makes the platform one of the key channels of political communication for young and middle-aged audiences.
The presence of organized networks of accounts with pro-Russian content on the eve of the election raises concerns about the scale of disinformation and its impact on public opinion.
As a reminder, elections to the lower house of parliament, the Chamber of Deputies, are scheduled for October 3-4 in the Czech Republic.
The EU has had a Digital Services Act (DSA) in place for several months now, which obliges major online platforms to identify and restrict manipulative content, including election-related content.
In 2023-2024, similar campaigns to spread pro-Russian messages were recorded in Slovakia, Germany, and the Baltic States.
