Romanian civil society is alarmed about political advertisement on TikTok breaching European and national laws and how that benefited an extremist candidate in the elections. EDRi member ApTI with 20 other NGOs from Romania call upon the European Commission and the national authorities to take swift action and investigate, as elections are still ongoing.
Following the role that TikTok has played in the first round of presidential elections in Romania on 24.11.2024, fully ignoring DSA requirements, ApTI, together with 20 other NGOs from Romania rang the alarm. In effect, the civil society organsations demanded rapid reactions that mitigate the risks related to the electoral process, in an open letter sent to the national digital services coordinator (ANCOM) that implements DSA in Romania and to the European Commission as coordinator for the same regulation regarding very large online platforms (VLOPS).
Romania has suffered a great political shock after an unexpected win in the first round of the presidential elections. A previously unknown candidate has managed an incredible “performance” in the last weeks of the campaign: to grow his audience on TikTok at a pace that seems artificially generated.
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The platform has catalysed the electoral content of an extremist candidate, allowing posting from coordinated fake accounts and failing to flag its content as election advertising. The winning candidate claimed that he has spent no financial resources during this campaign.
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Under [EU's Digital Service Act] DSA rules, VLOPS like TikTok would have a legal obligation to be accountable for their role as intermediaries in online activities, in particular in the context of electoral processes. In the context of the elections in Romania, TikTok has implemented almost none of the specific measures identified in chapter 3.2.1. of the European Commission’s Guidelines to VLOPS on mitigating systemic risks to electoral processes under the DSA, published on April 26, 2024.
TikTok’s lack of transparency, public outreach and accountability for its major role in the Romanian digital information ecosystem is unacceptable in the electoral context presented above and in the context of the DSA. Romanian civil society organisations demand swift action
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