Russia influenced elections in Romania through TikTok - intelligence

Romanian intelligence believes that Russia influenced the presidential election through the Chinese social network TikTok.

Here's What We Know

The European Union has sent an urgent request to TikTok for additional information on the Romanian intelligence data. The intelligence suggests that Russia managed accounts on the social media platform to promote a candidate who became the frontrunner in the Romanian presidential election.

Declassified files released by Romanian authorities earlier this week show that the pro-Russian campaign used the Telegram messaging app to recruit thousands of TikTok users to promote Bohdan Gorgescu, AP reports. It is unclear from the intelligence release whether the candidate himself was aware of the Russian campaign and whether he helped with it.

European Commission officials said they had asked TikTok to comment on the files and provide information on the actions it is taking in response. This is the second time the Commission has requested information from TikTok since the first round of the 24 November election, and comes a day after it ordered the Chinese-owned platform to preserve all files and evidence related to the election.

This is not the first time the social network has been involved in scandals in recent days. In addition, in the US, TikTok lost an attempt to overturn a law that could have led to a ban on the platform in that country, so now TikTok is facing restrictions.

Source: AP