РУССКИЙ
11:57 04.12.2024 •
Calin Georgescu ran as an independent candidate for president.
Photo: AP
The shock victory of an ultranationalist, pro-Russian candidate in the first round of Romania's presidential election is turning into a defining test of accountability for TikTok, writes POLITICO.
Media regulators and election observers are zeroing in on how Călin Georgescu — an unknown, far-right NATO-skeptic fan of Russian President Vladimir Putin — was suddenly catapulted from obscurity, in what some politicians and experts suspect is a covert operation conducted through thousands of fake accounts.
For TikTok — owned by ByteDance, a company headquartered in Russia's Communist ally China — it is a moment of reckoning.
The catchy TikTok clips that powered Georgescu's unexpected surge were accompanied by dramatic music and subtitles. He was shown barely breaking a sweat on the running track, flipping opponents in judo and riding a white horse in a traditional Romanian shirt.
The authorities in Bucharest have flagged “various irregularities” over TikTok's general handling of the election, opacity over who paid for Georgescu’s online campaign, and frustration with TikTok over the app’s slow responses to authorities’ requests.
TikTok denies that Georgescu was treated differently. "It is categorically false to claim his account was treated differently to any other candidate," spokesperson Paolo Ganino said, adding the far-right winner was treated "in the same way as every other candidate on TikTok, and subject to exactly the same rules and restrictions."
Taking the battle onto the European stage, the Romanian authorities are calling in European Union social media regulators for backup — and the case is now turning into a test of Brussels’ new regulatory powers over social media.
In 2022, the 27-country bloc passed the Digital Services Act (DSA), a powerful legal framework requiring online platforms to fight “systemic risks,” including disinformation and election interference.
The EU executive has the power to fine non-compliant firms up to 6 percent of their global turnover — and even block an app across Europe.
Romanian authorities have shared their findings with Brussels about TikTok’s measures during the election, they said this week. The European Commission will now meet TikTok and other social media platforms ahead of the second round of the presidential election on Dec. 8, it told POLITICO.
“If the Commission suspects a breach on the basis of the evidence at our disposal, it can open proceedings to look into TikTok’s compliance with the DSA obligations,” spokesperson Thomas Regnier said.
At the same time, “the Commission does not interfere in national elections and seeks to ensure within its competences a level playing field for all candidates,” Regnier stressed.
Brussels doesn’t want to be blamed for meddling in a national vote either.
For Romanian politicians, TikTok was too large to ignore when running their 2024 presidential campaign. The app has a whopping 8 million users in the country.
This is significant because online media are a bigger source of news than TV or print. Most Romanians have generally soured on news coverage: Only 27 percent trust the news, down from 42 percent in 2021, according to the Reuters Institute.
Political parties “have tried to leverage the fact that a lot of internet users are no longer reading the traditional media,” said Bogdan Manolea, executive director of the Association of Technology and Internet, a Romania-based NGO.
Georgescu harnessed that force best. He was “effective” in using TikTok “to convey simplistic nationalistic messages that resonated with voters in terms of dissatisfaction with mainstream political groups,” said Keith Kiely, coordinator for the Bulgarian Romanian Observatory of Digital Media.
On TikTok he touched on that sense of disillusionment, especially among young people.
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