Summary
TikTok’s CEO has been summoned to the European Parliament following the shock victory of far-right, pro-Russian candidate Călin Georgescu in Romania’s presidential election.
Concerns center on alleged misuse of TikTok, including thousands of fake accounts boosting Georgescu’s campaign, despite the platform’s ban on paid political ads.
EU lawmakers demand accountability under the Digital Services Act, citing risks of radicalization and disinformation across Europe.
TikTok denies wrongdoing, highlighting its efforts to combat disinformation. Romanian officials and activists call for scrutiny of campaign financing and platform regulation ahead of the Dec. 8 runoff.
TikTok? What about Twitter, Facebook, Telegram, and Reddit?
I’ll counter your “whatabout-ism” with information:
Facebook and Instagram are already in trouble with the EU over election interference.
Xitter is also being investigated (along with Meta and TT)
Telegram also got a wake up call this year with the arrest of their CEO by French Authorities. That wasn’t publicly related to election interference but its a sure bet that the EU will end up going after them too, they’re just starting off with X , FB, and TT.
Reddit hasn’t gotten their attention yet but it will sooner or later.
In short the EU started addressing this earlier this year, we’re just now starting to see enforcement.
It’s all of them, every single one. But tiktok is literally owned by a country known to interfere is elections, so it’s the most useful scapegoat. (And probably there’s some truth to it).
Nope. While there are legitimate concerns about government overreach potentially resulting in spying, ByteDance is NOT government-owned.
As is Russia, the US, and, more than anyone else: multinational private corporations based in the US.
You’re right about this part, though.