EU opens investigation into TikTok over election interference

By Philip Blenkinsop

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Fee opened formal proceedings on Tuesday towards social media agency TikTok over its suspected failure to restrict election interference, notably within the Romanian presidential vote final month.

The Fee mentioned it’s going to request data and look into TikTok’s coverage on political commercials and paid-for political content material in addition to TikTok’s programs to generate suggestions and the dangers of them being manipulated.

The opening of formal proceedings empowers the Fee to take additional enforcement steps and to simply accept commitments made by TikTok. There is no such thing as a particular deadline to finish proceedings.

China’s Bytedance-owned TikTok mentioned it had protected the integrity of its platform by means of greater than 150 elections worldwide and had offered the European Fee with in depth data on its efforts.

It added it didn’t settle for paid political commercials and proactively eliminated content material violating its insurance policies on misinformation and hate speech.

The Fee ordered TikTok on Dec. 5 to freeze information linked to the Romanian elections underneath the bloc’s sweeping Digital Companies Act (DSA), which regulates how the world’s greatest social media firms function in Europe.

Romania’s prime courtroom subsquently annulled the presidential election after accusations of Russian meddling and the victory of pro-Russia ultranationalist Calin Georgescu within the first spherical.

The Fee is aware of the danger of interference within the German parliamentary election in February and the presidential election in Croatia beginning on Dec. 29.

Fee President Ursula von der Leyen mentioned the brand new investigation adopted severe indications that international actors interfered within the Romanian presidential election.

“We should defend our democracies from any form of international interference. Every time we suspect such interference, particularly throughout elections, we have now to behave swiftly and firmly,” she mentioned in a press release.

That is the third investigation the Fee has launched towards TikTok underneath the DSA, each associated to dangers for minors. One has been closed after TikTok dedicated to take away TikTok Lite Rewards from the EU.