The European Commission opens an investigation against TikTok for the elections in Romania!
The European Commission today announced the opening of formal proceedings against TikTok, suspected of violating the Digital Services Act (DSA) by not properly mitigating risks related to the integrity of elections in Romania.
Romanian presidential elections on November 24 saw the surprise first-round victory of Georgescu, a nationalist and Eurosceptic independent candidate who was previously little known to the public. The election was annulled after the Constitutional Court received evidence of Russian interference in the voting process, particularly on TikTok, as provided by the country's intelligence services.
The Commission's concerns relate to the way the social media recommendation algorithm and political advertising system work, which require clear labeling.
This is only the first step in determining whether TikTok has violated the DSA. Now that the official proceedings have begun, the Commission will gather further information. If found not to comply with EU law, TikTok could face a fine of up to 6% of its global revenue.
"Whenever we suspect such interference, especially during elections, we must act quickly and decisively," said Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission. "Following serious indications that foreign actors interfered in the Romanian presidential election using TikTok, we are now fully investigating whether TikTok breached the Digital Services Act by failing to address such risks. It must be clear that in the EU, all platforms online, including TikTok, must be held accountable."
Georgescu's content advertising spread on TikTok, an inorganic phenomenon, according to the Commission, which believes it may have been promoted by bots and fake accounts.
In late November, the Commission requested information from TikTok to determine what actions the platform had taken to reduce potential algorithmic bias in the election, marking the first phase of a potential investigation. The deadline was last Friday.
A week later, the Commission announced a "holding order", requiring TikTok to hand over data on its recommendation systems from November 24 to March 21 for further analysis.
Finally, after the declassification of Romanian intelligence documents for interference, the Commission issued an "urgent information request".
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