BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) \u2014 TikTok took down several networks that tried to meddle in Romania\u2019s elections, executives said Tuesday as they defended the company\u2019s election integrity measures to European Union lawmakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The video-sharing platform is a focus of controversy in the Eastern European country after far-right outsider Calin Georgescu\u00a0emerged as the frontrunner in the vote, plunging the country into turmoil amid allegations of electoral violations and Russian meddling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among the networks that TikTok uncovered were two small groups that it disrupted on Friday, days after the first round of voting, Brie Pegum, the platform\u2019s global head of product, authenticity and transparency, told a committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both networks targeted Romanian users. One had only 1,781 followers and supported Georgescu, who was a\u00a0little-known independent candidate\u00a0until he set off shockwaves by convincingly winning the first round of voting, beating out the incumbent prime minister. The other networks supported different candidates, Pegum said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many observers chalked up Georgescu\u2019s success to his TikTok account, which now has 5.8 million likes and 527,000 followers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He gained huge traction and popularity in the weeks leading up to the first vote. But experts suspect Georgescu\u2019s online following was artificially inflated while officials hinted that he was\u00a0given preferential treatment by TikTok.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The controversy highlights how TikTok has become a key election tool in Romania, an EU and NATO member state that shares a long border with war-torn Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
TikTok applied its \u201cglobal playbook\u201d for the Romanian election and took a local approach with staff on the ground, said Caroline Greer, the company\u2019s top lobbyist in the EU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Greer and Pegum were being grilled by EU lawmakers about Tiktok\u2019s role in the Romanian vote as well as its compliance with the 27-nation bloc\u2019s Digital Services Act, a sweeping set of regulations designed to protect users online from illegal or harmful content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Greer said TikTok deployed 95 Romanian language content moderators, worked with a fact-checking group and met with political parties and a number of different authorities including the country\u2019s electoral authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But many lawmakers were not satisfied with their responses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe feeling here is that we are losing patience … and that we need more specific answers,\u201d said Dirk Gotink, a Dutch member of the European Parliament. He also questioned what the scores of Romanian content moderators were doing during the election, and compared Pegum and Greer to firefighters TikTok sent to put out a fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey come, they let the fire rage online for weeks, months, during an election. And then they send very nice people here into this committee to answer questions in a very polite way,\u201d Gotink said. \u201cBut it is simply not convincing \u2014 and it also doesn\u2019t reflect what is happening online.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to a report by the Bucharest-based Expert Forum think tank, Georgescu\u2019s TikTok account garnered 92.8 million views primarily within the last few months, a figure that grew by 52 million views a week later, just days ahead of the first-round vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another TikTok account solely featuring Georgescu content, which had 1.7 million likes on the night first-round polls closed, was removed the day after voting. It had posts with Georgescu attending church, doing judo, running around an oval track, and speaking on podcasts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In an emailed statement to The Associated Press on Monday, TikTok said the account was one of \u201cmore than 150 accounts impersonating Georgescu\u201d to date that has been removed, but added: \u201cWe also removed more than 650 additional impersonation accounts belonging to other candidates.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Georgescu will face reformist Elena Lasconi, of the progressive Save Romania Union party, in a presidential runoff on Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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