In the context of the ongoing Romanian elections, the European Commission has stepped up its monitoring of TikTok under the Digital Services Act (DSA). This concerns the exercise of the Commission's powers under the DSA and does not concern the Romanian electoral process, which is a matter for the Romanian authorities and ultimately the Romanian people.
The Commission has issued TikTok with a 'restraint order' under the DSA, ordering the platform to freeze and preserve data relating to actual or foreseeable systemic risks that its service could pose to the electoral processes and civil discourse in the EU. The reason for this is to preserve available information and evidence in the event of further Commission investigations into TikTok's compliance with its obligations under the DSA.
TikTok must retain internal documents and information regarding the design and operation of its referral systems and how it addresses the risk of intentional manipulation through coordinated inauthentic use of the service. The Commission orders the preservation of documents and information relating to any systematic violation of TikTok's terms of service prohibiting the use of monetization features to promote political content on the service. The preservation order concerns national elections in the European Union between 24 November 2024 and 31 March 2025.
The order is based on information received by the Commission in the context of the ongoing Romanian elections, including recently declassified information pointing to foreign interference by Russia. At this stage, the Commission is monitoring compliance and has no position on whether TikTok may have breached its obligations under the DSA.
Enhanced monitoring and cooperation
The Commission is also convening a meeting of the European Digital Service Coordinators Council on Friday 6 December to discuss with all Digital Service Coordinators the steps taken so far in this context and how to respond to new evidence, such as indications that accounts in other Member States have been targeted at the Romanian diaspora.
In addition, the Commission is increasing the evidence available in the informal Cyber Crisis Working Group, which includes the European Commission, the EEAS, Europol and ENISA (the EU's cyber security agency). This working group is in close contact with the Romanian cybersecurity authorities.
The Commission has intensified its cooperation with TikTok under the Digital Services Act. This includes requesting explanations, data and evidence through formal requests, while strongly recalling TikTok's obligations to effectively identify and mitigate election-related risks in line with the election guidance issued under the Digital Services Act.
At the same time, the signatories of the Codex on Disinformation also activated the Rapid Response System (RRS) for the Romanian elections. This system of cooperation under the Code ensures fast and effective cooperation during the election period. It has proven to be a useful and effective tool for the exchange of information between civil society organisations, fact-checkers and online platforms on time-sensitive content that, in their opinion, poses a threat to the integrity of the electoral process.
The Romanian-Bulgarian Centre (BROD) of the European Digital Media Observatory - which also participates in the Rapid Response System - monitored the Romanian online ecosystem and identified several disinformation narratives and tactics, such as violations of the electoral law, unlabelled political content (including through influencers) and suspected coordinated inauthentic behaviour.
"Today we ordered TikTok to freeze and preserve all data and evidence related to the Romanian elections, as well as the upcoming EU elections. This preservation order is a key step to help investigators establish the facts, and complements our formal requests for information following yesterday's declassification of classified documents. We are also stepping up our contacts with digital and cyber regulators across Europe in light of new evidence of systematic inauthentic activity. I am committed to vigorous and strong enforcement of the Digital Services Act," said the Executive Vice-President for Technical Sovereignty, Security and Democracy Henna Virkkunen.
On Friday 29 November, the Commission sent a request for information to TikTok, asking it to provide more information on the management of information manipulation risks. In particular, the Commission requests TikTok to provide detailed information on how it has analysed and mitigated the risk of inauthentic or automated use of its service and the risks arising from its referral systems.
The Commission also requests information on TikTok's efforts to enable a wider range of third parties to conduct public scrutiny as well as to have access to publicly available data in order to detect, identify and understand systemic risks related to the electoral processes. On 2 October, the Commission sent TikTok an initial request for information on the design and operation of its election-related recommender systems.
On 29 November, the Commission services organised an online roundtable with the GPLP and VLOSE, the Romanian Digital Services Coordinator ANCOM, relevant government authorities and civil society organisations to gather information and ensure preparedness for the ongoing Romanian elections. Among the participants who attended the roundtable were TikTok, Meta, Google, Microsoft and X. During the meeting, the Commission services asked the GPLP and VLOSE to share information on their risk assessment and mitigation measures for the Romanian presidential elections on 24 November and 8 December and the parliamentary elections on 1 December 2024.
EC/ gnews - RoZ_07
ILLUSTRATIVE PHOTO - pixabay
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