Photo: iDNES.cz
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.
ČTÚ, the Czech telecommunications regulator, has confirmed that it is handling the case together with the intelligence services. The authorities are consulting with the European Commission and TikTok, demanding that the platform block such accounts and disclose information about their origin. Some profiles have already been removed.
Experts point to a Russian connection. “This is massive artificial amplification of anti-system content, most often supporting far-right and far-left circles, all of it orchestrated from Russia by its intelligence services,” Pavel Havlíček, an analyst with the Association for International Affairs, told Deník N. According to Havlíček, similar campaigns were previously observed in Romania and Germany.
Researchers note that the artificial activity of the accounts sometimes gives itself away: videos are published in Russian, and at times in Vietnamese, German, or Romanian, while the profile names lack Czech diacritical marks. Czech experts warn that such operations could have a serious impact on the information space, especially given TikTok’s popularity among young voters: more than two million Czechs aged 18 to 24 use the app.
The activity of pro-Russian forces in the Czech Republic has recently manifested itself in the real world as well. On Sept. 27, supporters of SPD and Stačilo! held a rally at Prague Castle under the slogan, “Mr. President, respect the elections!” During the march, clashes broke out between demonstrators and counterprotesters, some of whom were carrying Ukrainian and EU flags along with signs reading, “Your president sits in Moscow.”
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:
“Participants of the Saturday rally in Prague on Sept. 27 claimed they had gathered to prevent election fraud in the upcoming vote in early October. According to them, the fraud is allegedly being prepared by Brussels — that is, the European Commission, NATO (which most of the attending politicians want to leave), and Czech liberals. The main goal of the rally, however, was to put pressure on the current president, Petr Pavel, who supports the incumbent liberal government that, according to opinion polls, may lose the election. In response to these accusations, the rally’s opponents, who organized a counterprotest, chanted: ‘Your president is in the Kremlin,’ implying that the protesting movements and parties all take anti-Ukrainian positions and share Russian propaganda narratives.
The rally was organized by the Svatopluk association, led by former Czech ambassador to France Petr Drulák. Drulák is now considered one of the ideologues behind the Stačilo! party list, formed mainly by Czech Communists and joined by politicians from the Social Democratic Party aligned with former president Miloš Zeman, who is known for his proposal to recognize Crimea as Russian.
The goal of the rally was to put pressure on Czech President Petr Pavel, who, after the parliamentary elections in early October, is authorized to invite one of the leaders of the parties that would enter parliament to become prime minister and form a government. These presidential powers are particularly relevant to mid-sized parties of both the left and the far right, which are hoping to become coalition partners of former prime minister Andrej Babiš’s ANO movement after the election. According to opinion polls, Babiš’s party is in first place, winning between 30 and 35 percent of the vote. The Communists and nationalists, as well as their sponsors, fear that the president will block their participation in the government.”