EU Opens TikTok Probe Over Romanian Election Interference
- DSA proceedings will look at labeling, recommendation engine
- Pro-Russia candidate victory was voided on foreign meddling
A TikTok-driven social-media campaign propelled Călin Georgescu from obscurity to victory in the first round of Romania’s presidential elections last month.
Photographer: Andrei Pungovschi/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The European Union started an investigation of TikTok over suspicions that it didn’t do enough to stop fake accounts and foreign powers from interfering with last month’s Romanian presidential election.
The probe will look at whether the short-video app failed to prevent bad actors from manipulating its recommendation system and if it appropriately labeled political content under the bloc’s Digital Services Act, the European Commission said in a statement on Tuesday.