The noose is tightening around TikTok. Following numerous complaints about the platform and the lack of moderation of its content during the Romanian elections at the end of November (see EUROPE 13537/8), the European Commission decided on Thursday 5 December to invoke the DSA to investigate these allegations.
TikTok has been ordered to “freeze and retain data relating to actual or foreseeable systemic risks that its service could pose to electoral processes and civic discourse in the EU” and must also retain certain data relating to breaches of its ban on broadcasting political advertising.
The injunction applies to all national elections, not just those in Romania, and runs until 31 March 2025. This deadline includes data relating to the forthcoming German elections, due to be held next February.
However, the Commission emphasised that it had not yet decided whether TikTok had breached the European content moderation regulation, and that the request to store data and evidence was primarily aimed at checking the platform's compliance with the DSA’s obligations.
This decision follows the publication on Wednesday of several declassified documents from the Romanian intelligence services, according to which paid influencers had promoted the account of candidate Călin Georgescu before the first round of the Romanian presidential election.
This preservation order should “help investigators to establish the facts”, said Henna Virkkunen, the new Commissioner for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy. (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)