European commission mandates TikTok data retention on elections
The European Commission has imposed an obligation on TikTok to retain data related to elections in Romania and other EU countries until the end of March 2025. This decision comes as a result of allegations against the platform for favouring Calin Georgescu, a pro-Russian presidential candidate in Romania, and suspicions of violating EU regulations, reports the Polish Press Agency.
The European Commission has taken action in connection with accusations against TikTok for potentially influencing the fairness of elections in Romania. On Thursday, the platform was obliged to freeze and retain all data related to the electoral process, which is to be in effect until the end of March 2025.
TikTok is suspected of promoting Calin Georgescu, the pro-Russian radical right candidate in the Romanian presidential elections. Authorities in Bucharest informed allies of attempts at foreign interference in the voting process.
The European Commission is checking whether TikTok's actions violate the provisions of the Digital Services Act (DSA), which obliges large online platforms to prevent phenomena that could affect election integrity. Under these powers, the EC issued a data retention order to TikTok.
Did TikTok promote a pro-Russian candidate in the Romanian presidential elections?
As reported by the EC, "this is done to preserve available information and evidence in the event of a further Commission investigation of TikTok’s compliance with its obligations under the DSA."
The platform must secure internal documents and information regarding the functioning of its recommendation systems and how it deals with manipulations.
The order covers not only the presidential elections in Romania but all national elections in the EU from November 24, 2024, to March 31, 2025. EC spokesman Thomas Regner refuted claims that the European Union had not done enough to protect member countries from interference in electoral processes.
Regner emphasized that the Commission has repeatedly cooperated with online platforms concerning elections in Europe, including the June elections to the European Parliament. In April, guidelines were also issued for providers of very large online platforms on limiting systemic risk in the context of electoral processes.
According to Romanian services, the network of accounts promoting Georgescu initially included 25,000 profiles on TikTok, which became very active two weeks before the elections. The Ministry of Internal Affairs in Bucharest also reported that over 100 influencers, with a total of 8 million followers, were manipulated to promote this candidate, reports PAP.
