The case of the annulled presidential elections in Romania in 2024 reaches the plenary of the European Parliament. A report to be voted on Tuesday in Strasbourg asks the Commission to finalize the analysis regarding the role of TikTok and possible interferences in the electoral process. The document analyzes how social networks are used in electoral campaigns in Europe and explicitly mentions the case of Romania.
The report analyzes the situation of elections in Europe and how social networking platforms are used during election periods, including for the promotion of politicians and campaign messages. One of the paragraphs of the document specifically refers to the presidential elections in Romania from 2024, whose first round was canceled, and to the use of TikTok for promoting a candidate.
The Parliament is putting pressure on the European Commission to finalize the investigation into TikTok, given that the case has not yet been concluded, even though almost two years have passed since the scrutiny in Romania. The report comes in a context where the European Commission has meanwhile sanctioned a series of social networks for not timely reporting that their platforms were being used for political purposes.
In the case of TikTok and the elections in Romania, however, the issue has not yet been settled. The case of Romania is mentioned in the report in the context of the cancellation of the first round of the 2024 presidential elections and the questions regarding how a social network was used to promote a candidate.
The document discusses the need for the European Union to analyze how social networks are used in electoral campaigns and to exert pressure on platforms for a clear delineation of political content from other types of content published by users. The report of the Special Commission for the European Shield for Democracy is set to be debated and put to the vote on Tuesday in the plenary of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.