The European Union has invoked some of its powers under the Digital Services Act amid increasing scrutiny related to the activities of TikTok during the recent elections in Romania.
According to a December 5 press release, the European Commission has ordered the Chinese tech giant to “freeze and preserve data related to actual or foreseeable systemic risks its service could pose on electoral processes and civic discourse” not just in Romania but all of the EU.
As of writing, no evidence of substantial state involvement in TikTok and Romania has been presented to the public.
This “retention order” pertains to data gathered across the bloc between 24 November 2024 and 31 March 2025.
We are committed to a robust enforcement of the Digital Services Act.
Today, we've ordered TikTok to freeze and preserve all data and evidence linked to the Romanian elections.
This follows recent declassified information pointing to foreign interference from Russia.
— European Commission (@EU_Commission) December 5, 2024
“TikTok must preserve internal documents and information regarding the design and functioning of its recommender systems, as well as the way it addresses the risk of intentional manipulation through coordinated inauthentic use of the service,” the body said.
“The Commission is ordering preservation of documents and information regarding any systematic infringement of TikTok’s terms of service prohibiting the use of monetisation features for the promotion of political content on the service.”
Officials stressed that while the commission was invoking the power in response to allegations of election interference floated by Romanian secret service operatives earlier in December, it was operating under the assumption of no wrongdoing on TikTok’s part.
They also insisted that the powers they were invoking related to all of Europe and that their actions did not “address the Romanian electoral process, which is a matter for the Romanian authorities and ultimately the Romanian people”.
US Democrats “openly talk” about using the European Union’s Digital Services Act legislation to censor Americans, journalist and free speech activist Michael @Shellenberger has told Brussels Signal. https://t.co/rdmglPf6fb
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) December 5, 2024
The bloc’s new so-called “Tech Sovereignty” Commissioner, Henna Virkkunen, said on December 5: “We ordered TikTok today to freeze and preserve all data and evidence linked to the Romanian elections but also for upcoming elections in the EU.”
“This preservation order is a key step in helping investigators establish the facts and adds to our formal requests for information which seek information following the declassification of secret documents [by Romanian authorities] yesterday.”
“We are also intensifying contacts with digital and cyber regulators across Europe in light of emerging evidence of systematic inauthentic activity,” Virkkunen added, before stating she was “committed to diligent and robust enforcement of the Digital Services Act”.
This most recent uproar in Bucharest and Brussels concerned the political success of Călin Georgescu, with the independent candidate soaring beyond his opinion polling to finish first in the first round of Romania’s December 1 presidential election.
Georgescu, branded by legacy media outlets as being “ultranationalist” and too friendly with Vladimir Putin’s Russia, means authorities in Europe and the US have suggested that third-party countries may have influenced the election by promoting him on TikTok.
The French Government has said it planned to monitor what citizens search for on platforms such as Google, TikTok and Instagram. https://t.co/XGAHL6ZGwe
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) November 4, 2024
