Bucharest Mayor Bids for Presidency With TikTok-Led Campaign

Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan was out of town receiving a civic award when he noticed that everyone in the audience had stopped listening to him. They were all frantically scrolling on their phones instead.

It was Dec. 6, and Romania’s constitutional court had just annulled the presidential election, citing outside influence after a far-right candidate came from obscurity to score a shock first-round win. It was a legal decision that brought the uncomfortable glare of the world’s attention, with US Vice President JD Vance referring to Romania in his notorious Munich speech in February as an example of Europe’s democratic back-sliding.