A spokesperson for the digital platform TikTok dismissed concerns raised by Romania’s National Audiovisual Council (CNA) that the platform’s algorithms „were enhanced with content favorable to a certain candidate” in Romania’s presidential election on Sunday, Reuters reports.
The CNA asked the European Commission on Tuesday to probe TikTok’s role in the election, taking into account what the Council described as „suspicions of public opinion manipulation.”
„In our opinion, it is clear that TikTok’s algorithms were amplified with content favorable to a certain candidate, triggering an imbalance in the electoral competition and endangering political pluralism,” said CNA vice-president Valentin-Alexandru Jucan.
„These… reports about the Romanian elections are inaccurate and misleading, as most candidates have established a TikTok presence and the winners campaigned on other digital platforms beyond ours,” the TikTok spokesperson said, as cited by Reuters.
