EU demands TikTok 'freeze and preserve data' over alleged Russian interference in Romanian elections

The European Commission on Thursday ordered TikTok to “freeze and preserve data” amid the ongoing Romanian presidential elections and declassified intelligence “pointing to interference from Russia.”

The second round of the presidential election is scheduled to be held on Sunday. It will be a runoff between the liberal Elena Lasconi, who placed second in the first round, and the far-right Călin Georgescu, a NATO critic (and moon landings denier) who has expressed pro-Russian views.

Georgescu “was almost unknown in Romania until he won the first round of voting in the presidential elections,” according to BBC News.

Intelligence documents declassified and released on Wednesday by the outgoing president, Klaus Iohannis, assess that Georgescu's victory in the first round was down to a widespread state-sponsored interference on his behalf, including a sophisticated guerilla campaign on social media, particularly TikTok.

According to these documents, $381,000 was spent to promote Georgescu on TikTok without being marked as campaigning material as required both by TikTok's terms and Romanian election law. The campaign was also heavily promoted by previously dormant accounts that had been registered two years ago.

The intelligence agencies also identified Russian cybercrime platforms trading credentials used by Romanian voters to access electoral websites, and said there had been thousands of cyberattacks during the voting itself that damaged electoral computers and forced a recount.

Georgescu has denied knowledge of the attempts to campaign on his behalf and accused Iohannis and the Romanian intelligence services of attempting to stop him from running.

According to the Commission’s statement, the order to TikTok was issued “in the context of the ongoing Romanian elections” but “does not address the Romanian electoral process, which is a matter for the Romanian authorities and ultimately the Romanian people.”

It is part of a range of measures brought in under the EU’s Digital Services Act that threaten the largest social media companies with fines of up to 6% of their global turnover if their platforms fail to prevent foreign interference.

In a statement, Henna Virkkunen, the Commission's executive vice-president for tech sovereignty, security and democracy, said: “We ordered TikTok today to freeze and preserve all data and evidence linked to the Romanian elections, but also for upcoming elections in the EU.

“This preservation order is a key step in helping investigators establish the facts and adds to our formal requests for information which seek information following the declassification of secret documents yesterday. We are also intensifying contacts with digital and cyber regulators across Europe in light of emerging evidence of systematic inauthentic activity.”