The TikTok platform needs to be regulated urgently, even in the 2024 election year, as it has become a base for extremist messages popular among young people, say Lucian Romaškanu (PSD) and Raresh Bohdan (PNL). Both admit that traditional parties have lost the first communication battle with AUR on this social media platform.

HotNews.ro published on Saturday the first data of a national poll conducted in March, showing that young people aged 18 to 35 would be the first to vote for George Simion’s party in the parliamentary elections. years, “if the elections were held on a future Sunday.”

According to HotNews.ro sources, according to a survey conducted by IRES on behalf of the non-party initiative Young People Vote, AUR has about 15% of voting intentions in the 18-35 age segment.

The initiators of the survey said that AUR is in first place, which, in their opinion, could be a “wake-up call”, a wake-up call, according to the youth.

Next come USR and PNL, which complete the “youth rating” podium after the party led by George Simion.

The full results will be presented to all parliamentary parties on April 3 in the Palace of Parliament.

The same survey shows that approximately 75% of young people have little or no trust in Romanian democracy. This started Saturday’s discussion with the two leaders of the ruling parties.

Raresh Bohdan, First Vice President of PNL: “Usual and extremely aggressive manipulation in TikTok”

Raresh Bohdan, a PNL MEP and candidate in the upcoming elections, admits that the party’s polls and focus groups show a tendency to “direct young people towards the AUR”. The first vice president of PNL identifies a possible reason: TikTok.

He claims that young people are falling prey to “aggressive and perverse propaganda and manipulation” carried out through the platform.

The liberal says that one of the “big problems of voting in terms of influence on the minds of voters” is the messages that extremist parties broadcast on TikTok, and the problem is not only in Romania, but also at the level of the European Union.

Rares Bohdan wants “serious regulation in the case of TikTok”, but insists that he does not agree with the closure of the platform.

“I spoke to Roberta Mezzola (no – the president of the European Parliament) who was extremely concerned that Romania has 7.4 TikTok users. This is the highest percentage at the European level. In percentage terms, the number of TikTok users from Romania and the diaspora is higher than in any European country,” said Raresh Bohdan in a dialogue for Hotnews.ro readers.

“Political messages should be very clearly regulated or banned on TikTok”

“Today, TikTok is a free place, an empty land, where manipulations from Russia are advancing, attempts to destroy European democracy, shake European institutions, throw in the usual and extremely aggressive manipulation of the European structure. Extremist parties of Romania AUR and SOS are winning there. If we do not take extremely serious measures, we can become classic victims of manipulation through such formulas,” says Raresh Bohdan.

“TikTok is an area where pro-Russian, red propaganda from the Kremlin and red propaganda from Beijing will cause us a lot of problems if we do not have the courage to take action. Let TikTok have the same rules as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter. Political messages must be extremely well regulated, unaddressed and with extremely serious scrutiny. Or for six months, so that TikTok is considered to ban political propaganda. What is happening there is unprecedentedly serious,” adds the NLP MEP.

“Ms. Kyriac had Twitter, not Facebook”

PSD and PNL leaders urgently started opening TikTok accounts in 2024, Lucian Romaškanu and Raresh Bohdan explained to Hotnews. The liberal MEP declares that traditional parties are to blame, not the AUR leadership, which speculated on wastelands.

“The problem is why we don’t do it. Most mainstream politicians do not have Tik Tok accounts. For example, Ms. Kyriac (no – former number 1 on the PSD – PNL list for the EP) did not have a Facebook account. She only communicates on Twitter, the least known platform in Romania. It has only 700,000 users in Romania. Instagram has almost 3 million, Facebook has 12.8 million, Tik Tok has the biggest increase, it jumped by 7 million users,” said the first vice president of PNL.

“We must wake up”

For this reason, all PNL leaders have created accounts on TikTok, but he admits that years have been wasted on this type of political communication.

“We have to wake up. We have two options: to communicate quickly and try to use TikTok for positive, pro-European messages, or, at the European level, find a formula for regulating political propaganda where the long arms of Moscow and Beijing are reaching out.” position of PNL leader.

Classic communication such as a postcard, poster, billboard or rally does not attract young people, say the political leaders of the Coalition. Television communication does not “reach the youth”.

Raresh Bohdan states that the consolidation of elections was an attempt to stop the “extremist wave”, as he calls it.

“After the elections, taking into account the activity of activists in the area of ​​mayors, local and district councils, there will be fewer surprises, because the turnout will increase significantly, by 20-25% compared to classic elections. This group (no – youth) will be absorbed by the large mass of those who vote, people over 40 years old. If we didn’t, the devastation would be obvious. So there will be a small surprise of one or two percent,” concludes Raresh Bohdan.

Lucian Romascanu, PSD spokesman: “Tik Tok will be regulated or closed”

The PSD representative also claims that TikTok will be regulated in the near future to prevent it from being used in election campaigns around the world.

“Of course, TikTok needs to be regulated and it will be regulated. The US Congress called on TikTok to sell its operations to a local organization. This will happen if they want to continue operating in the US. Europe is going in the same direction. The big Meta platforms, Facebook and Google, X are in the regulatory zone. I can be very sure that it will be Tik Tok’s turn to be regulated,” Lucian Romaskanu believes.

An anti-establishment or rebellious message is easily accepted by a young audience, as confirmed by the analysis carried out in Kiseleff. “The only thing you can do with TikTok if it’s not up to the task is to turn it off. Will be regulated or closed.”

“They no longer have anything to do with television, but not at all”

For Lucian Romaskanu, Facebook is “losing speed” and young people are exposed to messages on TikTok, a place where parties like PSD and PNL are not very present.

“I lacked a certain form of communication, and it shows. We are in the process of reassessing the communication mix. It’s a late start, but we can restore it,” says the Social Democrat senator.

Analysis of PSD shows that young people have disappeared from the sphere of traditional means of communication.

“They no longer have anything to do with television, but not at all. You can see TV numbers. At the moment, the TV audience is mainly an audience of 50+, and 18-35 years politics has nothing to do with immediate interests. They have nothing to do with the news sphere. They have their own bubble, their own music, their own clothing trends. They accidentally fall into messages from the political sphere, so they vote very little,” Romaškanu explains to Hotnews.ro.

“Young people are extremely pragmatic”

“I think the intermediate step is to locate the business in Europe or to get to know the US business so that you can regulate and fine them. China will not obey the rules adopted in Europe,” the PSD spokesman believes.

The Social Democrats’ strategy will focus on presenting actions that have a direct and immediate impact on the lives of young people.

“Young people are extremely pragmatic, they will look for their future where it is better. In a relationship with them, the promise does not work, but the immediate issue of quality of life. It is very likely that TikTok will play an important role in the 2024 elections. A specific message is important. Promises don’t work anymore.”

“The world has grown up and can change something”

However, Romaskanou believes the danger will be “swallowed” by what he calls “the difference between what we did and what they say we didn’t do.”

“They will vote for me faster if I tell them that we have the Moldovan highway and macroeconomic stability thanks to it. There was an emotive vote against the system, but I win what I did more than what the AUR can win by saying what I didn’t do. I believe that the world has grown up and can change something,” concluded Romashkanu.

• EXCLUSIVE National poll shows AUR will win most 18-35 vote ‘if election is held next Sunday’
• The first reaction of the UDR after the youth survey. Moshtyanu: “The fight for youth is between USR and AUR. And our polls show that they do not prefer the old parties.”