EU demands TikTok explain Romanian intelligence data suggesting Moscow’s election meddling

The European Union said on Friday it had sent TikTok an urgent enquiry for more information about Romanian intelligence data suggesting that Moscow coordinated accounts on the platform to promote the candidate who emerged as the frontrunner in the presidential election’s first round.

This was reported by the AP, Ukrinform saw.

The bloc's executive branch is closely examining TikTok's role in the election, which ended with the first round win of underdog far-right populist Calin Georgescu.

Declassified files released by Romanian authorities earlier this week suggest that a pro-Russia campaign used the messaging app Telegram to recruit thousands of TikTok users to promote Georgescu. It is unclear from the intelligence release whether Georgescu was aware of the alleged campaign or assisted in it.

European Commission officials said they asked the video sharing platform to comment on the files and to provide information on actions that it’s taking in response. It’s the second time the commission has asked TikTok for information since the election’s first round of voting on November 24.

Romanian intelligence agencies allege that one TikTok user paid $381,000 to influencers on the platform to promote content on Georgescu. They said they had received information that revealed an aggressive advertising campaign aimed at increasing and accelerating the candidate’s popularity.

Some of the thousands of social media accounts used in the campaign were allegedly created years ago but became active only weeks before the first round of voting, the case file said.

TikTok has 24 hours to respond to the EU request, officials said.

“We are concerned about mounting indications of coordinated foreign online influence operation targeting ongoing Romanian elections, especially on TikTok,” Henna Virkkunen, the commission’s executive vice-president for tech sovereignty, security and democracy, said in a post on X.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, the European Commission sent TikTok a request for information under the Digital Services Act (DSA) in connection with suspicions of influencing the presidential elections in Romania through this online platform.

The EC also ordered TikTok to retain all data related to the elections in Romania amid information about Russian interference.