European Commission opens formal investigation into TikTok

The European Commission opened a formal investigation into TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, on Tuesday over its suspected failure to limit interference in elections, particularly in Romania’s presidential election last month.

“We will request information and look into TikTok’s policy on political advertising and paid political content as well as TikTok’s systems for generating recommendations and the risks of manipulation,” the EU’s executive arm said.

On December 5, the commission ordered TikTok to freeze data related to the Romanian election under the EU’s comprehensive Digital Services Act, which regulates how the world’s largest social media companies operate in Europe.

According to CNN, Romania’s Supreme Court subsequently annulled the presidential election following accusations of Russian interference and the victory of pro-Russian ultranationalist Calin Georgescu in the first round.

The opening of the formal proceedings on Tuesday allows the commission to take further enforcement steps and accept commitments made by TikTok, and there is no specific deadline for completing the proceedings.

TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, said it has protected the integrity of its platform in more than 150 elections around the world and has provided the European Commission with extensive information on its efforts.

It said it does not accept paid political advertising and proactively removes content that violates its policies on misinformation and hate speech.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the new investigation followed serious indications of foreign interference in Romania’s presidential election.

“We must protect our democracies from any kind of foreign interference, and when we suspect such interference, especially during elections, we must act quickly and decisively,” she said in a statement.

The commission is aware of the risk of interference in Germany’s parliamentary elections in February and Croatia’s presidential election, which starts on Dec. 29.

It comes as the app faces a potential ban in the United States in January if its parent company ByteDance’s divestment from the United States does not go ahead.