TikTok faces scrutiny over alleged election bias in Romania
The European Commission has imposed a requirement on TikTok to retain data related to elections in Romania and other EU countries until the end of March 2025. This decision follows accusations against the platform for allegedly favouring Călin Georgescu, a pro-Russian presidential candidate in Romania, and potential violations of EU regulations, as reported by the Polish Press Agency.
The European Commission has intervened over claims that TikTok may have influenced the fairness of elections in Romania. On Thursday, the platform was instructed to freeze and retain all data related to the electoral process, which will remain in effect until the end of March 2025.
TikTok is suspected of promoting Călin Georgescu, the pro-Russian radical right candidate in the Romanian presidential elections. Authorities in Bucharest have alerted allies about attempts at foreign interference in the voting process.
The European Commission is assessing whether TikTok's actions violate the provisions of the Digital Services Act (DSA), which requires large online platforms to prevent activities that could compromise election integrity. Under this authority, the EC issued a data retention order to TikTok.
Did TikTok promote a pro-Russian candidate in the Romanian presidential elections?
According to the EC, "this is done to preserve available information and evidence in the event of a further Commission investigation of TikTok’s compliance with its obligations under the DSA."
The platform must secure internal documents and information about how its recommendation systems operate and how it manages manipulations.
The order encompasses not only the presidential elections in Romania but all national elections in the EU from 24th November 2024 to 31st March 2025. EC spokesman Thomas Regner denied allegations that the European Union had not done enough to protect member countries from interference in electoral processes.
Regner stressed that the Commission has repeatedly collaborated with online platforms regarding elections in Europe, including the June elections to the European Parliament. In April, guidelines were also issued for providers of very large online platforms on reducing systemic risk in the context of electoral processes.
Romanian services indicated that the network of accounts promoting Georgescu initially included 25,000 profiles on TikTok, becoming particularly active two weeks before the elections. The Ministry of Internal Affairs in Bucharest also reported that over 100 influencers, with a collective following of 8 million people, were manipulated to promote this candidate, as stated by PAP.
