- Category
- Latest news
Czech Researchers Identify Nearly 300 Pro-Russian TikTok Accounts Ahead of Elections
- Authors
![Photo of Liubava Petriv]( "Photo of Liubava Petriv")
A Czech research group has uncovered nearly 300 anonymous TikTok accounts amplifying pro-Russian narratives and backing radical parties just days before the country heads to the polls, Reuters reported on September 29.
Online Risk Labs, a Prague-based network of analysts, reported that it had identified 286 accounts spreading propaganda in the run-up to the October 3–4 parliamentary elections. The group estimates the accounts collectively draw between 5 and 9 million weekly views—an audience larger than the combined reach of the country’s mainstream party leaders.
The TikTok pages in question promoted the far-right Freedom and Direct Democracy party (SPD), polling around 13 percent, and the far-left Stačilo! party, which hovers just above the 5 percent threshold required for seats in parliament. Both parties call for Czechia’s withdrawal from NATO and the European Union.
-e109dcc658f8c9969badfc6df42fb540.png)
Online Risk Labs stressed that the candidates themselves may not have been aware of the activity. Stačilo! denied using fake accounts and rejected claims of foreign involvement in its campaign.
According to Reuters, Czechia’s telecoms regulator, CTU, confirmed it had received complaints about hundreds of TikTok accounts and has referred the matter to the European Commission. TikTok said it was taking action against content and accounts that violate its rules, noting it has dedicated teams targeting “deceptive behavior.”
Nearly one in four Czechs use TikTok, according to local media—lower than in neighboring Romania, where last year’s presidential vote was marred by Russian interference and later annulled by courts, triggering ongoing legal chaos.
Latest polls show opposition party ANO, led by former prime minister Andrej Babiš, with a commanding lead over Prime Minister Petr Fiala’s center-right SPOLU coalition. Analysts say ANO may need support from SPD and Stačilo! to form a majority.
The elections are set to determine not only the country’s next government but also the direction of Czechia’s relationship with the EU and NATO.
The parliamentary elections in Czechia are scheduled for October 3 and 4, 2025.
Previously, it was reported Romanian, Czech, and Hungarian intelligence services have dismantled a Belarusian espionage network operating in Europe.
