The Manchurian Candidate OR The Power of IT?

I promised to post on Wednesdays. Due to the major events happening in Romania these days I take the liberty to post this time on Friday.

It's an intriguing title I suppose. In particular for the young ones who have not read the 1959 novel or watched the 1962 movie, or its 2004 remake. A Manchurian candidate refers to somebody, particularly a politician, who is being used as a puppet by an enemy power. The term indicates disloyalty, deception, and corruption. The interesting part is that such a marionette behavior could be intentional or unintentional, in the second case being inoculated by the enemy through sophisticated psychological methods.

What does this have to do with the current IT world? Allow me to explain.

Romania has been facing a political earthquake since last Sunday. Romanians, politicians, voters, and traditional media have discovered the power of social media, Automation, and Artificial Intelligence—all in one blow. In a matter of days, our political system collapsed like a domino game. The largest two parties were decapitated due to their poor results almost on the spot, in the midst of the elections.

The reason is rather simple and demonstrates the professionalism of Romanian politicians, the media, and the Romanian intelligence agencies. They are all amateurs at least. The fact is that they are not prepared for today's IT challenges and are practically helpless. Just to be clear, I do not consider for a second, that our James Bond agencies are corrupt and they knew about this candidate but didn't inform the officials (the President, Prime Minister, other officials) about the situation. I hope that they are only weak professionals.

In short, based on a simple arithmetic rule, a large number of TikTok influencers were asked to support - read influence to vote, an obscure university lecturer of the University Center of Pitesti, a location of the Bucharest University. Of course, as it traditionally happens in the influencer's world, nothing comes free, irrespective of the product. Lipstick, clothes, perfumes, cars, food, even votes. As long as somebody is paying, they are promoted. In a matter of weeks, a Romanian candidate for presidency gathered the support - read votes, of 2,12 million people. Most of the influencers were paid in cash for their efforts. All these wouldn't have been possible without the help of IT systems and applications. Keep in mind that this candidate claimed that his campaign budget was zero, which is questionable. I would follow the money though, this was not a free meal! In his defense, it is very true that except for one debate, he was not invited to any TV important shows, panels, or get-togethers. Nobody paid attention to him in the real world because he was not backed by any political party spending massively on TV space. Virtually, on TikTok, he was the "king of likes".

Many of us, working in the IT field, have dealt in the last years with the risk that comes with the current trend of IT and its cybersecurity. Not to mention AI risks. In one of my posts I mentioned that until a catastrophic event happened, people would not react, and enforce regulations and laws to limit the potential threats to the democratic world. I have never wanted to see my own country as a guinea pig, but this is the reality. It is happening. I bet that looking at the culprits (TikTok, China, Russia, etc.) the same model influenced other voting events or elections, including Brexit in the UK, the US presidential elections, or the Moldavian elections for president, however nothing on such scale as today in Romania's presidential elections.

While we watched very closely these elections, due to the all-around poor quality of the candidates, my wife and I didn't know initially who this gentleman was. Honestly! It doesn't matter that the guy is an ultra-nationalist, sovereignist, conspiracy theorist, anti-LGBTQ+, pro-Putin, pro-Iron Guard, and anti-Semite, as per the way he is currently described in the media. All of these wrapped in a deep mystical envelope hard to comprehend. But the problem is not around all his beliefs but that I was not aware that he could be a frontrunner in the elections, which is amazing not only to me but to many people I have talked to. In the first hours after the election results of the initial round were announced, we were simply thrilled. We suddenly have a virtual candidate who has never met his supporters and never been in large meetings, he might easily be a hologram. And this possible hologram won the first round of the presidential elections in my country by a large margin. Oh, I love IT! We simply couldn't comprehend why people voted for him in such a large number, as we didn't know this character. In other words, my major concern is not about the candidate, we had extremists in our elections in the past. But is that people decided to vote for somebody based solely on one channel, the lovely "objective" TikTok. Nobody saw that coming.

Lately, we have realized that he might be just a puppet of an enemy state or group of people, Chinese, Russians, Anarchists, Sovereignists, George Soros (!), you name it. Funny enough he is a very vocal anti-system candidate, yet his almost entire career has been working for the system. He is a nationalist, yet drives a Japanese car and keeps his savings in a Hungarian bank. The guy is a phony, an impostor! Is he a Manchurian candidate OR people have just discovered the power of IT? I do not think that he was brainwashed by an enemy of Romania, either the Russians or the Chinese. These guys know better; they would have probably used a more credible candidate for their Manchurian project.

I think that he has used the power of IT in a very smart way and tricked many of the less informed voters into using social media and AI. The rest just like this kind of speech and would vote for him with or without TikTok marketing. If they knew him. Based on his latest reactions, he is scared and not prepared for what is coming to him. He is so courageous and willing to fight for his beliefs and his country but does not leave the house for a TV show. He locked himself in. Bravery at its highest level!

I checked with a few people that I know, who have an account on the Chinese TikTok machinery as I don't have one. The AI was extensively used in this insane case. Around 50% of them had no clue who this candidate was, the other half received all kinds of movies, messages, and requests for support in attracting more proselytes. I am using this word on purpose as his supporters bring to mind more a cult than a political party. Listening to this gentleman, he undeniably sounds like a guru, a preacher, a spiritual teacher disseminating his doctrine. So, it is quite clear that based on well-defined algorithms, only a portion of the TikTok accounts were targeted, obviously based on previous experiences on the app, such as comments, likes, movies watched, and so on. People who were not targeted were left unbothered. AI at its best!

Before concluding, irrespective of the final result, this candidate has produced the biggest impact from a political, sociological, and judicial point of view since the 1989 change of regime (I would not call it a Revolution as I do not believe it was one, more a coup d’etat). Political parties, mass media, (including social media), and governmental institution responsible for information must revisit their standards, procedures, and strategies and adapt to the new IT power and the realities of the virtual world. For us, the voters, there is a lot of food for thought. Where and what we post on the net data about ourselves and our loved ones. Be always aware of what you watch, search for, and what you post, because it seems Big Brother is watching and everything is being recorded. When there is an important decision to make, first research a lot, stay alert and make an informed logical decision based on facts, not rumors or fantasies. Above all, go out and vote, every single one of us matters. Experts say that we should always vote positively, for a better future, and not against something (parties, candidates, doctrines). In this case, it's rather simple: East or West?

Based on what we know today, this gentleman hasn't done anything illegal. If voters democratically decide that he is suited for the presidential role, those who disagree will have to accept the outcome. The first rule of democracy is that the majority decides! And if we do not like the outcome we will hopefully retain the freedom to leave the country, an option we didn't have under communism. If that becomes necessary, we will have to act quickly this time!

PS1. Regarding this situation, things are changing with the speed of light. The votes are now re-counted and it looks like there are some illegal actions that have happened during the campaign and even during the voting process. Let’s stay tuned and informed at least now in the 12th hour.

PS2. Everybody is deploring the extremely divided US society since Trump is a key player in the country’s politics. Well, now we can definitely say that Romania follows the American dream. This is another accomplishment of this gentleman with a great assistance from our political parties and information services, an aggressive, divided society. Many thanks!