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The city of Brussels has threatened to launch an investigation into TikTok over its alleged failure to stop the spread of disinformation and unauthorized campaigns on the social media platform in the run-up to last week’s Romanian general election.
The European Commission said on Wednesday that Romania’s state-run media watchdog would turn to the Brussels-based regulator after far-right candidate Karin Georgescu, who has gained popularity on Chinese platforms, unexpectedly topped the first round. announced that it has requested an official investigation into TikTok. Sunday’s presidential vote.
Romania’s complaint alleges that TikTok’s algorithm “amplified” Georgescu’s content to the detriment of other candidates, said Valentin Alexandre Jucan, the regulator’s vice president. Ta.
In a written response to the Financial Times, the City of Brussels said TikTok is considered a “very large online platform” under the EU’s digital services law, which means “it is not necessary to assess the systemic risks associated with electoral processes”. This means that there is an obligation to reduce the
“If the Commission suspects a violation based on available evidence, it may initiate proceedings to verify TikTok’s compliance with its DSA obligations,” the commission said.
Companies found in violation of the law face fines of up to 6% of their annual global turnover. TikTok, owned by ByteDance, had annual revenue of $110 billion in 2023.
TikTok has denied any wrongdoing and said it is “aggressively” enforcing a voluntary code of conduct against election misinformation. It added that it had “actively partnered” with the Romanian Election Commission to “enhance reliable election information” in Romania.
In the run-up to Sunday’s vote, Bucharest’s electoral commission ordered Georgescu to delete clips he had shared on social media that had not been flagged as campaign videos. Although he reduced the number of election messages on his official TikTok channel, many of the viral videos continued to be shared by fan accounts on election day.
TikTok took steps beyond what is required by Romanian law within 24 hours after receiving complaints from the electoral commission about a number of videos that did not include campaign identification, according to people familiar with the matter. That’s what it means.
Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolak said on Tuesday that for an online campaign to be so successful, large sums of money would need to be spent and could violate country restrictions that mean “foreign funding” cannot be excluded. said. He called on authorities to investigate the matter and take steps to prevent it from happening again in the Dec. 8 run-off.
The country’s outgoing President Klaus Iohannis is scheduled to hold an emergency Security Council meeting on Thursday to address potential threats to election IT infrastructure.
Mr. Georgescu had expressed admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin when he ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but has since said he has nothing to do with Russia and has “zero commitments” to his campaign. He claimed that he used the funds.
The Romanian lawsuit is the second since the city of Brussels last month asked TikTok for information about the measures it had taken to avoid manipulation by bad actors and reduce risks related to the election.
In February, the EU launched a DSA investigation into TikTok to assess whether it is doing enough to protect minors from online addiction and harmful content. That investigation is still ongoing.
