European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen weighed in on Tuesday: “Following critical indications that international actors interfered within the Romanian presidential elections by utilizing TikTok, we are actually totally investigating whether or not TikTok has violated the Digital Services Act [DSA] by failing to deal with such dangers,” she stated, saying a proper probe — a uncommon public remark from the EU chief on such an investigation.
The escalation comes after weeks of wrangling between European and Romanian officers and TikTok executives. At the guts of the saga are stories and analysis that Georgescu bought a lift from a community of paid influencers and bots, and allegations that TikTok didn’t correctly deal with these threats. Romanian authorities this month declassified a collection of paperwork suggesting these campaigns had been eerily much like Russian affect operations in Ukraine and Moldova.
The Commission will particularly examine TikTok’s advice techniques for “coordinated inauthentic manipulation or automated exploitation of the service,” in addition to the platform’s insurance policies on political advertisements and paid political content material, the Commission stated in a press release.
The case on Tuesday flamed up tensions between Europe’s political teams over free speech and international interference, in a five-hour debate on the European Parliament on Tuesday.
“I do not see this sort of proof” of international interference, stated Patryk Jaki, a Polish member of the hard-right European Conservatives and Reformists, telling critics. “What I see [is] you want censorship.”
Catherine Griset, French member of the far-right Patriots for Europe group, stated the EU’s battle towards misinformation “appears like a totalitarian regime.”
