The European Union has launched an investigation into TikTok, suspecting that the platform has failed to adequately curb fake accounts and foreign interference in last month’s Romanian elections.
According to Bloomberg, the European Commission issued a statement on Tuesday (December 17th), stating that the investigation will focus on whether TikTok has failed to prevent malicious actors from manipulating its recommendation system and whether it has appropriately labeled political content in accordance with the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA).
TikTok’s social media campaign was said to have propelled pro-Russian right-wing independent candidate Călin Georgescu to an unexpected victory in the first round of the Romanian presidential elections last month.
On December 6th, the Romanian Supreme Court declared the results of the country’s presidential election void and requested the government to set a new election schedule.
Declassified Romanian intelligence documents revealed that through coordinated accounts, recommendation algorithms, and paid promotions, Georgescu gained widespread publicity on the social media platform TikTok. However, Georgescu himself claimed that he did not invest any funds into the campaign.
Romanian security agencies accused Russian interference in the country’s elections and criticized TikTok for not labeling Georgescu’s videos as election-related content.
In a blog post update on Tuesday, TikTok stated that it has updated the content in its Election Center within the app and has “exposed and dismantled” influence networks related to elections.
Amid strong protests following Georgescu’s initial victory, the European Commission has requested TikTok to provide detailed information on “how it analyzes and mitigates the risk of its services being exploited by fake or automated uses” and to respond to the findings of the Romanian investigation.