TikTok launches Electoral Center, dedicated to Romanian elections

 TikTok is strengthening its platform protection efforts by launching the Electoral Center dedicated to the Romanian elections, through a new media education campaign and through continued collaboration with over 20 fact-checking partners, according to a press release sent on Friday."As the next round of elections in Romania approaches, TikTok is today announcing a series of updates that strengthen its ongoing work to protect the platform and connect the community to trusted election information. TikTok gives people the opportunity to discover and connect with the content and creators that inspire them. During election periods, TikTok continuously works to protect the platform and maintain a civilized space where users can express themselves freely and build communities. Thousands of Trust & Safety and Security specialists have protected TikTok in over 200 elections around the world in the last five years, including those in Germany and Croatia, as well as other elections already held in Europe this year. Today, TikTok is strengthening this work with the launch of the Election Center dedicated to the Romanian elections, a new media education campaign, and continued collaboration with over 20 election partners. fact-checking," the statement said.To help the community access official information about these elections, TikTok last week launched an Election Center, available to users through the Search function and through banners displayed on relevant election content. The Election Center provides essential information, important dates, and directs users to the Permanent Electoral Authority website. It also includes information about TikTok policies and media literacy tips for creating, sharing, and engaging with content, developed in partnership with Funky Citizens.At the same time, the platform continues to invest in media education initiatives to provide community members with the necessary skills to critically analyze online content, identify disinformation, and access trusted sources."Ahead of the Romanian presidential elections, TikTok is launching a media education campaign in collaboration with a number of important media partners in Romania to encourage critical thinking and help the community distinguish between fact and fiction when viewing online content. As part of the campaign, media partners have produced a series of educational videos that explain how users can recognize and avoid misinformation, provide them with the necessary tools to critically evaluate online content, and guide them to official sources. These videos are available to the Romanian community through the Electoral Center and will be actively promoted to ensure their visibility during the electoral period," the press release points out.According to the source, the development of the Election Center is just one part of a broader effort to protect TikTok's integrity. This effort is led by the Elections Working Group, which is comprised of experts in cybersecurity, fraud, disinformation, and election integrity. The working group is coordinating efforts to protect the platform, using both advanced moderation technologies and human moderation. They continue to rigorously protect the TikTok community so that people can safely express themselves on topics that matter to them, by implementing a series of measures designed to ensure compliance with the policies detailed in the global hub for election integrity.The platform actively collaborates with all relevant authorities in the context of elections, providing them with dedicated channels through which they can report content that they believe may violate either the TikTok Community Guidelines or applicable regulations. In preparation for the upcoming elections, it has further expanded access to these tools by adding additional government institutions and local specialized institutions."This initiative increases transparency while reinforcing TikTok's strong commitment to working closely with local regulators. It also builds on TikTok's already ongoing work with local institutions such as fact-checkers and NGOs, which it has added to TikTok's Community Partners Channel. Furthermore, TikTok is working within the European Union's Code of Conduct on Disinformation Rapid Response System, which helps address urgent challenges that could jeopardize the integrity of the electoral process. TikTok is continuously working to preserve the integrity of the platform, especially during elections. In Romania, TikTok will continue to invest in preventing potential threats and facilitating access to safe sources of information for those interacting with electoral content on the app, while also collaborating with national and regional authorities," the quoted source states.