press reports<\/a>, declassified documents by Romania\u2019s National Security Council show that videos supporting extreme-right, pro-Putin presidential candidate C\u0103lin Georgescu were pushed out in \u201cswarms\u201d on TikTok. The documents revealed that Georgescu\u2019s campaign gained from a large-scale, coordinated social media effort, which seemed to be linked to foreign entities including Russia.<\/b><\/p>\nThe revelations of TikTok\u2019s role in meddling with the Romanian elections come after the surprising victory of Georgescu in the first round of the Presidential election, until then a fringe candidate. This Sunday, the second round of election will take place with democratic parties uniting to prevent C\u0103lin Georgescu from winning and becoming another Russian asset at the top of an EU democracy.<\/p>\n
With the EU Digital Services Act (DSA), we have the tools to investigate and prevent such election interference.<\/b> In two written questions supported cross-party by over 30 MEPs from EPP, S&D, Renew, Greens\/EFA and the Left, I requested from the European Commission to investigate whether and how TikTok was in breach of European law.<\/p>\n
The EU Commission should also investigate whether algorithmic amplification leading to disinformation systematically outperforming information – not only on Tiktok – constitutes a systemic risk for freedom of expression under Article 34 of the DSA.<\/p>\n
I<\/b> have no doubt: TikTok damaged the integrity of the Romanian election.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
While it is not straightforward to show the direct correlation between social media posts and the outcome of an election, it is clear that TikTok had a big part to play. TikTok allowed thousands of unauthentic accounts to operate. Even worse, TikTok\u2019s algorithm pushed a disproportionate amplification of pro-Georgescu content and gave him an unfair advantage over his competitors by not labeling his content as political while reducing the virality of his competitors. He also claimed not to have received foreign support for his campaign, which seems clearly false.<\/p>\n
This is a dangerous situation for Europe\u2019s democracies.<\/b><\/p>\n
The EU Commission should learn from this experience and clearly lay out which interim measures can be taken against platforms during an election, to support the integrity of our elections and public discourse!<\/p>\n
Europe needs a consistent implementation of existing law to support the safeguarding of the integrity of elections and public discourse.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
Member States\u2019 governments and the EU Commission must ensure a strong DSA enforcement to safeguard European democracy.<\/p>\n
As soon as I get answers from the Commission, I will let you know.<\/p>\n
Best wishes to you,<\/p>\n
Alexandra Geese<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear friends! The reports from Romania are extremely worrying. According to the latest press reports, declassified documents by Romania\u2019s National Security Council show that videos supporting extreme-right, pro-Putin presidential candidate C\u0103lin Georgescu were pushed out in \u201cswarms\u201d on TikTok. The documents revealed that Georgescu\u2019s campaign gained from a large-scale, coordinated social media effort, which seemed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17386,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[144,85,142],"tags":[111,126,127,128],"class_list":["post-17522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-democracy","category-digital","category-digital-services-act-en","tag-democracy","tag-elections","tag-platforms","tag-tiktok"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
TikTok interferes with Romanian election to push extreme-right, pro-Putin candidate - Alexandrageese.eu<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/alexandrageese.eu\/en\/tiktok-interferes-with-romanian-election\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"TikTok interferes with Romanian election to push extreme-right, pro-Putin candidate - Alexandrageese.eu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dear friends! The reports from Romania are extremely worrying. According to the latest press reports, declassified documents by Romania\u2019s National Security Council show that videos supporting extreme-right, pro-Putin presidential candidate C\u0103lin Georgescu were pushed out in \u201cswarms\u201d on TikTok. 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