cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/4810481

Archived version

Czech authorities have identified and launched an investigation into a network of nearly 300 TikTok bot accounts spreading pro-Russian narratives on a massive scale in advance of the country’s Oct. 3-4 parliamentary elections, Czech outlet Deník N reports, citing government sources. The accounts are also actively campaigning for both far-right and far-left parties, primarily SPD, Stačilo!, and PRO.

According to the Center for the Study of Online Risks, the core of the network consists of several “content creators” whose videos have garnered up to 250,000 views. Surrounding them were hundreds of accounts that automatically liked and reposted the videos so that TikTok would register them as “popular” and push them to real users. The overall reach of this coordinated campaign is estimated at between 800,000 and 1.3 million views.

The accounts posted videos criticizing the EU and NATO, along with clips featuring politicians from Stačilo! (“Enough!” — a left-wing coalition led by the Communists), SPD (“Freedom and Direct Democracy” — a far-right party), and PRO (“Law, Respect, Expertise” — a right-wing populist movement). Among those highlighted in the videos were Stačilo! leader Kateřina Konečná, former foreign minister Lubomír Zaorálek, SPD representatives Radim Fiala and Tomio Okamura, economist Miroslav Ševčík, and PRO leader Jindřich Rajchl. The report also highlights the rapid rise in popularity of videos by former politician Miroslav Sládek, who is running with the Česká republika na 1. místě! (“Czech Republic First!”) alliance.

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Political scientist Ivan Preobrazhenskiy, a columnist for The Insider, notes that the main goal of the rally is to put pressure on the current president of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel, who holds the key to forming the future government:

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