Gong has reported several TikTok posts to the platform, the Croatian State Electoral Commission, and the Croatian national coordinator for the Digital Services Act (HAKOM) for spreading falsehoods about Presidential candidate Ivana Kekin, and for attempting to influence the elections.
Anonymous political accounts on social media are trying to sway the course of the presidential elections in Croatia. While criticism is always welcome in campaigns, recent global events highlight how platforms can influence elections by spreading disinformation under the guise of anonymity. New European legislation has decided to put an end to this by removing illegal content from platforms during election campaigns.
As an organization committed to preserving electoral integrity, Gong has alerted TikTok, the State Electoral Commission, and the national DSA coordinator, HAKOM, about a shadow defamatory campaign against candidate Ivana Kekin, which is being run from the TikTok account Ne Možemo.
On December 4th, 2024, the TikTok account Ne Možemo (@nemozemo1), one of the most popular anti-Možemo accounts, published a video claiming that presidential candidate Ivana Kekin owns a hidden villa that she had not previously disclosed to the public. However, Kekin quickly refuted these claims, emphasizing that the information about the property has been publicly available in her asset declaration since she became a Member of Parliament in 2021. Despite this, the Ne Možemo account continues to post content accusing her of lying about the “hidden” villa, further alleging that it was acquired through theft.
This campaign reached its peak following yesterday’s post by Mile Kekin, the husband of presidential candidate Ivana Kekin, who revealed that he had been duped into meeting with Nikica Jelavić, believing him to be “the football player, not the mobster.” (they share the same name). Within just one day of Kekin’s post, disinformation on social media further escalated.
Today, candidate Ivana Kekin announced that she is considering requesting police protection following the release of inflammatory videos and the “trap” set for her husband. She expressed regret that the police are unable to identify who is behind the anonymous accounts. However, the Digital Services Act (DSA) allows for the removal of manipulative information aimed at influencing election outcomes, as such content is considered illegal. Although Croatia has not yet passed an implementing law for the DSA, the national coordinator, HAKOM, has already begun enforcing the European act on removing harmful content. HAKOM has announced that it will collaborate for these elections with other national DSA contact points, major platforms managing social networks, and civil society organizations monitoring the elections.
While TikTok prohibits paid political advertisements, content like this, which essentially amounts to a smear campaign based on false information, quickly goes viral. The first video received over 130,000 views and was shared more than 600 times. Not only does such content violate the DSA and undermine democratic discourse, but it may also involve unreported, illicit campaign funding, which is strictly prohibited by law. A recent case in Romania revealed how black money in campaigns was used to finance a network of influencers and fake profiles for political promotion.
