EU orders TikTok to freeze Romanian elections data

By Martin Coulter

LONDON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union has ordered social media firm TikTok to freeze data linked to the Romanian elections, it said in a statement on Thursday.

EU officials issued a "retention order" under the bloc's wide-sweeping Digital Services Act, which regulates how the world's biggest social media companies operate in Europe.

The move comes on the same day the United States voiced concerns over potential foreign interference in Romania's elections, after pro-Russia ultranationalist Calin Georgescu surged to victory in the first round of the presidential contest on Nov. 24.

Far-right parties also performed well in Romania's parliamentary election last Sunday, though the ruling leftist Social Democrats emerged as the largest party and hope to cobble together a pro-EU coalition government.

Documents declassified by Romanian security officials on Wednesday showed Georgescu was massively promoted on social media platform TikTok through coordinated accounts, recommendation algorithms and paid promotion. Georgescu himself declared zero funds spent in the campaign.

The documents suggested Romania had been the target of "aggressive hybrid Russian attacks". Russia has denied any interference in Romania's election campaigns.

If Georgescu claims victory in this Sunday's runoff vote, he will likely try to isolate Romania abroad and reverse its pro-EU approach, analysts and diplomats have said.

A Tiktok spokesperson said: "We have already been cooperating with the (European) Commission and will continue to do so. We look forward to establishing the facts in light of some of the speculation and inaccurate reports we have seen."

(Reporting by Martin Coulter and Charlotte Van Campenhout; editing by Jason Neely and Gareth Jones)

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