In questioning by EP lawmakers, TikTok denies foul play to sway voters to Calin Georgescu

Social media company TikTok defended on Tuesday before the European Parliament its measures to combat disinformation in the first round of Romania's presidential election, denying that it favored contender Calin Georgescu, who came in first place with 22.94% of the vote, news agency EFE reports.Speaking before the European Parliament's Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee, the company's representatives stressed that "all candidates were considered in the system without differentiating between independents and those belonging to a political party", and therefore they all faced "the same restrictions".This is what TikTok's global Head of Product for Authenticity & Transparency Brie Pegum explained, assuring that of the networks dismantled in recent months for impermissible political content, only one supported Georgescu, and it had much fewer followers than others that backed other candidates."In general, we have worked continuously to try to prevent misinformation and coordinate authentic behavior," the TikTok representative said.She also noted that TikTok has taken down over 66,000 fake accounts in Romania, about seven million fake "likes", some ten million fake followers and about 1,000 accounts that imitated candidate profiles.In her turn, TikTok's Director of Public Policy and Government Relations Caroline Greer explained that the platform applied its internal rules for electoral processes during the Romanian elections and stated that in the months leading up to the elections, it had meetings with various authorities in the country, including several political parties and the Romanian electoral authority.Furthermore, she mentioned that TikTok has over 6,000 content moderators in EU languages, of whom 95 Romanian content moderators.The algorithm used by the social network to display content for users "responds to their activity signals", so it favors content feed that each user stops to view, the TikTok representative also explained.The answers provided by TikTok representatives did not convince the MEPs present at the debate and the European Parliament's select committee will look at the possibility of sending additional written questions to the platform.The European Parliament's Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection heard TikTok representatives on how the company applies EU digital rules.The EU's Digital Services Act (DSA), which entered into full force on 17 February 2024, sets strict obligations for digital service providers such as social media or online trade, to combat illegal content, online disinformation and other online risks to society.After the first presidential round, Romania asked the European Commission to initiate a formal probe into the TikTok platform, based on EU social media rules.In a letter seen by Politico.eu last Thursday, the social network TikTok - owned by Chinese company ByteDance - rejected accusations that it played an improper role to sway voters in the Romanian elections."To date, we have found no evidence of a Covert Influence Operation on our platform in the last few weeks in the runup to Romania's ongoing presidential election, as well as no evidence of foreign interference," TikTok said in a letter addressed to Romanian authorities, according to the cited publication.TikTok adds that it has removed over 150 impersonation accounts linked to candidate Calin Georgescu and over 650 accounts linked to other candidates. "The highly speculative reports about the Romanian elections are inaccurate and misleading," TikTok spokesman Paolo Ganino said, as cited by Politico.eu.   În this context , Russian ultranationalist ideologue Alexander Dugin posted a message on X saying that "soon Romania will be part of Russia." The post was subsequently taken down.   "Where wokeists and elite of Democrats can flee from US? Canada? Trudeau was recently at Mar-o-Lago Israel? There is a war. London, Paris, Dubai? Exactly where Russian liberals have fled. Or Moldova? That will be part of Romania soon. But Romania will be part of Russia," Dugin wrote, and a little later added that maybe Australia or New Zealand are safer places now. Europe may fall or fall into the hands of right-wing populists or be seriously damaged by Oreshnik [the name of a Russian medium-range missile], he added.   A few hours later, the post was taken down, and there is no access to the account from which it was posted. According to local media, it is possible that the account is fake.    Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also issued a comment on X. "So predictable! After Romanians proudly celebrated their Unification Day the other day, we were reminded that Russia does not recognize Unification", he said. "This was done so reluctantly, under the combined effect of Romanian sovereign will and pressure from Western powers. The same thing will make Russia fail again," he added.   Why Romania’s presidential vote could shake NATO, Politico.eu is asking.   Romania is a serious military power, which is why the risk that NATO-skeptic, pro-Russia candidate Calin Georgescu will become its president next Sunday is confounding the alliance. The country of 19 million has been a NATO member for two decades, and is the site of an airbase that is expanding to be the bloc's biggest in Europe. It borders Ukraine; stares across the Black Sea at Russia-occupied Crimea; has sent arms and ammunition to Kyiv; and hosts a U.S. Aegis Ashore missile defense system in Deveselu, in southern Romania, where both Romanian and U.S. forces are based. But those international ties are deplored by Georgescu, who has condemned the Deveselu missiles as a national “shame,” campaigned for ending Romanian aid to Ukraine, and called for “Russian wisdom” in shaping foreign policy.   At the same time, Georgescu insists he doesn’t want to withdraw from the alliance. “I do not want out of NATO, I do not want out of the European Union,” Georgescu said last week. “What I want, however, is to take a stance, not to kneel over there, not to take everything. Like I said, we should do everything in our national interest.”   Even were Georgescu inclined to withdraw from NATO, that would be a difficult aim to achieve as the far right doesn’t have a majority in the country’s parliament. It could also rile Romanians, 88 percent of whom support membership in the alliance, according to a recent poll. But under Romania’s French-style political system, the president is the head of state, commander-in-chief of the armed forces and in charge of foreign policy. Having a NATO-skeptic in the Cotroceni Palace, therefore, could create big problems for the alliance; Georgescu could copy Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s playbook, for example, and act as a pro-Kremlin spoiler within NATO.   A dramatic political shift in Bucharest, then, could undermine Romania’s role as one of the military alliance’s major regional security players. The country is one of the alliance’s top spenders, flies F-16 combat jets, is buying M1 Abrams main battle tanks from America, and aims to open one of the largest air bases in NATO. It also deployed troops to both Iraq and Afghanistan.    That growing military might comes on the back of over two decades of fast economic growth that has transformed the country from a Balkan basket-case into an increasingly prosperous nation that has even bested old rival Hungary in terms of GDP per capita.   “Romania’s role has evolved a lot in the past 20 years since it joined NATO, and the country has made steps toward being a security provider and not only a security consumer,” said Anca Agachi, a policy analyst at the RAND think tank.   Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine almost three years ago, Romania has sent weapons, including a Patriot air defense system, and helped funnel international aid to Kyiv. It also borders the Black Sea — where Russians are attacking civilian vessels and laying mines.   Russian drones have passed through Romanian airspace on their way to attacking Ukraine, and drone fragments have been found on its territory. “Proximity to Ukraine has positioned Romania as a vital logistical partner,” said Antonia Colibasanu, a Romania-based geopolitical analyst at Geopolitical Futures, adding that Romania is also a training hub for Ukrainian F-16 pilots.   NATO leaders agreed in March 2022 to establish four additional multinational battlegroups along the alliance’s eastern edge, including a French-led one in Romania. The unit, stationed in Cincu, will be upgraded to a 4,000-strong brigade by next year. It includes troops from Belgium, Luxembourg, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal and the U.S.   In addition to the missile defenses in Deveselu, Romania aims to spend $2.7 billion turning its Mihail Kogalniceanu airbase into one of NATO’s largest facilities. Once the upgrades are completed in 2030, Kogalniceanu will host over 10,000 soldiers and civilians, some of whom will be shifted from America’s Ramstein base in Germany. “This will be a very concrete tool of deterrence on the eastern flank,” said George Scutaru, CEO of the New Strategy Center think tank and a former national security adviser to Romania’s president. Next spring, Romania will host a large-scale military exercise dubbed Dacian Spring 2025 that will test France’s ability to move a war-ready brigade across Europe in 10 days.   Currently, Bucharest spends 2.25 percent of its GDP on defense, above the alliance’s 2-percent target, and aims to boost military expenditure to 2.5 percent next year and 3 percent in 2026. The goal is to modernize its arsenal and replace aging Soviet-era gear.   “We need five to 10 years to bring the troops and capabilities up to the level needed to react and discourage any war,” said Iulian Chifu, president of the Conflict Prevention and Early Warning Center Bucharest and a former government adviser on international security.   Romania is heavily reliant on other countries for weapons to modernize its forces. Bucharest is in the process of purchasing 32 Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning fighter jets from the United States. It also has Patriot air defenses and M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS). Last year, Romania procured two mine-hunters from the U.K. to help secure the Black Sea.   Those efforts “face delays, as Europe and the United States struggle with armament delivery backlogs” caused by the war in Ukraine and the Covid-19 crisis, said Geopolitical Futures’ Colibasanu.   That’s one of the reasons that Romania is also buying weapons from non-NATO countries. It’s in the process of procuring 54 K9 Thunder self-propelled howitzers from South Korea’s Hanwha Aerospace for $910 million.   Earlier this year, Hanwha Aerospace executives told POLITICO that Romania could become a weapons production hub for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. German defense giant Rheinmetall is also looking to build a major powder factory in the country.