TikTok took down ‘cluster’ of pro-Russian influencers in Romania

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TikTok has admitted that it took down a “cluster” of accounts backing a pro-Russian far right nationalist who emerged as the lead contender in Romania’s presidential election.

Brie Pegum, global head of product at the Chinese social media company, was grilled by the European parliament on Tuesday over the role the platform played in the Romanian vote. Bucharest has asked Brussels to open an investigation into how TikTok’s algorithms allegedly favoured Calin Georgescu, the fringe candidate who surprisingly topped the first round of voting.

Pegum said two “clusters” of accounts backing Georgescu and another candidate were in violation of the platform’s rules banning unmarked political advertising. The other candidate that benefited from this type of support was former Nato deputy chief Mircea Geoana, Pegum said. Geoana secured 6 per cent of the vote.

The TikTok official added that 66,000 fake accounts and 10mn fake followers were removed ahead of the election. Earlier, it had removed an account with 299,000 followers linked to the far-right AUR party, said Caroline Greer, director of public policy at TikTok.

Georgescu had gone viral on the platform and won more than 20 per cent of the vote on November 24, to enter a run off against liberal leader Elena Lasconi on Sunday. 

The Romanian Constitutional Court ordered a vote recount following suspicions of foul play and foreign interference, particularly by Russia. But the second tally showed no significant differences and the top court certified the result on Monday.

Greer said it had 6,000 content moderators in Europe including 95 who speak Romanian, along with a fact checking company partner. 

“What the hell were they doing during the elections?,” asked Dirk Gotink, of the centre-right European People’s party. He said one candidate had 150mn views on the platform, more than three times any other. 

He dubbed the executives the “fire brigade” who “let the fire rage for weeks” then came to answer questions afterwards. “We are losing patience,” he said.

Dan Nica, a Romanian Socialist, attacked the “contemptible responses”. “There are no political advertisements on TikTok,” he said, but “hundreds of accounts [that were] selling detergent . . . were doing political advertising. Where did that money come from?”

Anna Cavazinni, chair of the internal market committee that held the hearing, said members would follow up with written questions as they had not had satisfactory answers.

The Commission said it was too early to determine if TikTok has breached the EU’s Digital Services Act. It if did, it faces a fine of up to 6 per cent of global annual turnover. TikTok, which is owned by ByteDance, had an annual turnover of $110bn in 2023.