EU investigates TikTok for election interference in Romania

The European Union (EU) has started a second investigation against TikTok for possible violations of the Digital Services Act (DSA) in Romania, the European Commission announced in a press release. 

The watchdog started an investigation into the troubled Chinese social media platform in February this year for violations of the DSA "in areas linked to the protection of minors, advertising transparency, data access for researchers, as well as the risk management of addictive design and harmful content."

The Commission will focus on two key areas - 1) TikTok's recommendation algorithms to check for manipulation, and 2) Paid political advertisements and content on the platform. It will check whether TikTok managed to mitigate risks "posed by specific regional and linguistic aspects of national elections." 

The Commission said it opened an investigation based on "declassified intelligence reports" from Romanian authorities and third-party investigations. The EU also issued a retention order to TikTok on December 5, ordering the platform to retain and preserve data concerning the Romanian elections from November 24, 2024, to March 31, 2025.