The role of TikTok in the Romanian presidential election
5.12.2024
Question for written answer E-002794/2024
to the Commission
Rule 144
Alexandra Geese (Verts/ALE), Nicolae Ştefănuță (Verts/ALE), Sebastião Bugalho (PPE), Anna Cavazzini (Verts/ALE), Pierre Jouvet (S&D), Merja Kyllönen (The Left), Michael Bloss (Verts/ALE), David Cormand (Verts/ALE), Axel Voss (PPE), Klára Dobrev (S&D), Maria Grapini (S&D), Kim Van Sparrentak (Verts/ALE), Estelle Ceulemans (S&D), Pascal Arimont (PPE), Jutta Paulus (Verts/ALE), Reinier Van Lanschot (Verts/ALE), Saskia Bricmont (Verts/ALE), Eugen Tomac (Renew), Dirk Gotink (PPE), Wouter Beke (PPE), Olivier Chastel (Renew), Benoit Cassart (Renew), Sandro Gozi (Renew), Hannah Neumann (Verts/ALE), Stéphanie Yon-Courtin (Renew), Manuela Ripa (PPE), Markéta Gregorová (Verts/ALE), Virginijus Sinkevičius (Verts/ALE), Katarina Barley (S&D), Hanna Gedin (The Left), Birgit Sippel (S&D), Laura Ballarín Cereza (S&D), Siegfried Mureşan (PPE), Michal Wiezik (Renew), Lucia Yar (Renew), Murielle Laurent (S&D), Alex Agius Saliba (S&D)
On 24 November 2024, far-right extremist politician Călin Georgescu won the first round of the Romanian presidential election. Media reports described this victory as a ‘TikTok win’. Questions arise as to whether TikTok is in breach of the Digital Services Act.
Notably, TikTok’s systemic risk assessment report failed to identify elements that were observed before the election, such as coordinated inauthentic behaviour to influence recommender systems, political content blended into entertainment-focused accounts and influencers being paid to promote political messages while being asked not to disclose this fact. Also, illegal content related to the promotion of historical fascist figures was not taken down.
Finally, measures in the guidelines on the mitigation of systemic risks for electoral processes appear to have been ignored, such as the detection and disruption of manipulation of the service, adapting content moderation processes and algorithmic systems, preventing misuse of advertising systems, and ensuring that users can identify whether content contains political advertising.
- 1.If the Commission conducts an investigation into this matter, which types of breaches will it focus on?
- 2.Does the Commission intend to start an investigation, under Article 34 of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (Digital Services Act), into mechanisms that systematically lead to disinformation being disseminated quicker than information, since such mechanisms constitute a systematic risk to public discourse and elections?
Submitted: 5.12.2024