EU Probes TikTok Influence On Romania Elections

The European Commission said it has sent TikTok an urgent request for more information on an election influence campaign allegedly organised on the platform with the backing of the Russian government, as outlined in declassified Romanian intelligence files.

The move came a day after the Commission ordered the platform to retain all data and other evidence related to the election.

The Commission said they asked TikTok to comment on the declassified files and provide information on actions it is taking in response.

“We are concerned about mounting indications of coordinated foreign online influence operation targeting ongoing Romanian elections, especially on TikTok,” said tech security commissioner Henna Virkkunen on X.

Election influence

Virkkunen also called on TikTok to “urgently redress” its content moderation and amplification policies and comply with the wide-ranging Digital Services Act that regulates large online platforms in the EU.

The European Commission’s retention order last week was also issued under the DSA.

Romania’s top court annulled the ongoing Romanian presidential election, ruling on Friday that the entire process, which had been due to conclude on Sunday, must be re-run.

The ruling came after far-right, pro-Russian candidate Calin Georgescu scored a first-place finish in first-round elections on 24 November after returning single-digit figures in opinion polls before the election, raising questions about the results.

Georgescu claimed he spent nothing on his campaign, which was conducted entirely via social media, including numerous videos posted on TikTok.

Coordinated campaign

Romania’s intelligence agency published declassified documents claiming the candidate was massively promoted on TikTok through coordinated accounts, recommendation algorithms and paid promotion.

One TikTok user paid $381,000 (£300,000) to influencers on the platform to promote content about Georgescu as part of an “aggressive promotion campaign” to increase his popularity, the documents said.

Romania was the target of “aggressive hybrid Russian attacks” aimed at influencing elections, with thousands of TikTok users recruited via Telegram to take part in the influence campaign, the documents claim.

Russia has denied any interference in the election.

Some of the thousands of social media accounts used in the campaign were allegedly created years ago but only activated in the weeks leading up to the first-round vote, the files indicated.