The EC has launched an official investigation into TikTok over allegations that the platform was used by Russia to influence the results of the annulled presidential election in Romania.
The investigation, which is being carried out under a massive law known as the Digital Services Act (DSA), is centered on concerns that the short video app failed to "assess and mitigate systemic risks" to the integrity of elections, he said in a statement to the European Commission.
"We need to protect our democracy from any kind of external interference. Whenever we suspect such interference, especially during elections, we need to act quickly and firmly," said the head of the commission, Ursula von der Leyen, quoted by AFP.
"Following serious indications that foreign participants interfered in the Romanian presidential elections, using TikTok, we are now actively investigating whether TikTok violated the Law on Digital Services by failing to deal with the appropriate risks," she added.
The Digital Services Act forces the world's biggest technology companies to do more to protect European consumers online and fight illegal content.
Pro-Russian Kalin Giorgiescu unexpectedly won the first round of Romania's presidential vote on November 24, causing alarm in the NATO-EU country that borders Ukraine.
Later, the country's constitutional court annulled the election process, ruling that it was "marked by a number of irregularities and violations of the electoral legislation".
This move follows a series of intelligence documents, declassified by the presidency, which lay out detailed accusations against Djordjeska and Russia, including claims of "massage" popularized in social media and cyberattacks.
The ES stated that the decision to start the investigation is based on parts of the declassified intelligence documents of the Romanian authorities.
The investigation will focus on TikTok's "recommendation systems" - which use data to suggest content users might like - and the company's policies on political ads and paid political content, the commission said.
The European executive authority, which acts as a digital supervisor of the EC according to the ZCU, emphasized that the disclosure of the official procedure does not predetermine its outcome and there is no deadline for the conclusion of the investigation.
The investigation is the third that the commission has started against TikTok, which risks being fined up to 6% of its global turnover. | BGNES
