A week after the disputed results of the Romanian elections, TikTok appeared before MEPs on the Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) on Tuesday 3 December to explain itself after having been criticised for failing to moderate the content it circulated during the election period (see EUROPE 13533/21).
Two TikTok representatives, Brie Pegum and Caroline Greer, defended the platform’s operation and moderation to MEPs who were increasingly exasperated by what they saw as the “lack of seriousness” of the responses provided.
“Once again we see that you are not complying with the rules, that you are bending them. We have several important elections next year. What lessons will you learn from this case? We’ve had enough of your documents and your empty promises”, stormed Arba Kokalari (EPP, Swedish).
Before her, several of her colleagues had demanded precise answers on the operation of TikTok’s algorithm, accused of promoting content favourable to the pro-Russian candidate, and on the measures taken after the Romanian authorities had been notified.
Caroline Greer, the company’s Director of Public Policy and Government Relations in Brussels, said that the company had 95 Romanian content moderators and claimed that the platform was in contact with people “on the ground” who were familiar with the specifics of the campaign.
This is not sufficient, according to MEPs from most political groups, with the exception of the far right. “What this case shows us is that it is apparently not possible to intervene quickly in these situations and the platforms don't care”, said Kim van Sparrentak (Greens/EFA).
Brie Pegum admitted that TikTok had deleted two information campaigns aimed at Romanian voters, as well as a previously known campaign that they had previously linked to the Russian media outlet Sputnik and which had reappeared on their platform.
On the same day, the Chair of Renew Europe, Valérie Hayer, sent a letter to the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, asking her to summon the CEO of TikTok to the European Parliament.
See the letter: https://aeur.eu/f/em1 (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)