The Center for Online Risk Research has warned of a surge in disinformation on TikTok in Czechia, just days before the country’s parliamentary elections. IT specialists uncovered nearly 300 interconnected accounts that artificially amplify their reach, generating millions of weekly views through coordinated sharing and commenting.
The Institute for Politics and Society, which has long tracked Russian disinformation in Central Europe, reports clear evidence of pro-Russian narratives spreading across social media. Roman Máca, a security analyst with the institute, told Czech Radio that the influence of online manipulation should not be underestimated.
“Over time, each of us is spending more and more of our lives online, and this inevitably shapes our view of the world,” Máca explained. “If we don’t want our worldview to be shaped by some computer in St. Petersburg, we need to remain vigilant.”
According to Máca, the disinformation campaign functions as a “shadow campaign” ahead of the October 3–4 vote. Content is designed both to promote pro-Russian groups and to discredit parties and movements critical of Moscow.
“This is an attempt to influence the Czech elections,” Máca said. “It is not the first time, it will not be the last; it is a common occurrence not only in the Czech Republic.”
The strategy is broad-based rather than narrowly targeted, with material distributed across multiple social media platforms and frequently attracting hundreds of thousands of views. Advanced artificial intelligence and machine translation make bot-generated accounts far harder to detect than in the past, Máca added.
Beyond disinformation, cyberattacks also remain a concern. “Disinformation campaigns themselves can be classified as cyberattacks, since they occur in cyberspace,” Máca noted. “But there are also threats to election systems, attempts to disrupt infrastructure, and even targeted attacks on candidates.”
Experts argue that resilience against such influence operations requires both technical measures and public education. Finland has shown how civic awareness can render foreign propaganda ineffective; Russian state outlet Sputnik eventually shut down there due to a lack of interest. Yet replicating this model in Czechia may prove more difficult.
“The Finnish model would be ideal,” Máca said. “But Czech society is more polarized, and fabricated narratives take root more easily. Meeting this challenge means educating the public and ensuring strong cybersecurity measures so that such attacks can be effectively resisted.”
