EU Opens TikTok Probe Over Election Interference Claims

The European Commission said it has opened a formal probe into TikTok’s systems for mitigating the risk of election interference, following turmoil over the Romanian presidential elections.

The EU’s executive arm said the Chinese-owned social media platform was suspected of violating the Digital Services Act (DSA), which came into force last year, which obliges large platforms to properly assess and mitigate risks linked to election integrity.

The Commission indicated the probe was prompted by the Romanian presidential elections, whose first round in November was annulled by Romania’s top court after a previously little-known far-right candidate won the most votes.

“Following serious indications that foreign actors interfered in the Romanian presidential elections by using TikTok, we are now thoroughly investigating whether TikTok has violated the Digital Services Act by failing to tackle such risks,” said Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.

“It should be crystal clear that in the EU, all online platforms, including TikTok, must be held accountable.”

‘Hybrid attacks’

The investigation will focus on TikTok’s recommendation systems and its policies on political advertisements and paid-for political content, the Commission said.

The Romanian top court made the unprecedented move to annul the first round of elections after Romanian authorities declassified documents claiming the candidate, Calin Georgescu, 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.

Earlier in December the Commission ordered the platform to retain all data and other evidence related to elections for a period of four months, from 24 November through March.

The period notably covers upcoming German elections in February.

German elections

During a heated four-hour debate in the European Parliament on Tuesday, members voiced concerns that disinformation on social media could influence the German elections.

TikTok denied it failed to manage risk around the Romanian election.

“We’ve protected the integrity of our platform through over 150 elections around the world and continue proactively addressing these industry-wide challenges,” the company said in a statement.

“TikTok has provided the European Commission with extensive information regarding these efforts, and we have transparently and publicly detailed our robust actions.”

The company added that it doesn’t accept paid political advertising and actively removes content for violating its policies on misinformation, harassment and hate speech.

The platform submitted a response to formal questions on elections on 16 December.