The deputy head of the Romanian telecommunications regulator, Pavel Popescu, said on Wednesday that he will start the official process of temporarily shutting down the TikTok platform in the country from Thursday. The reason is the investigation of the role this platform played in the first round of the presidential election.
“I call for the suspension of the TikTok platform in Romania with effect from November 28, until the state institutions complete the investigation regarding the manipulation of the electoral process,” Popesca was quoted as saying by the profit.ro news website.
The first round of presidential elections was held in Romania on Sunday. 13 candidates competed for the favor of more than 18 million voters in the presidential elections.
Surprisingly, the independent far-right candidate Calin Georgescu won the most votes. He was followed by Elena Lasconi from the center-right Union of the Rescue of Romania. She narrowly beat incumbent Prime Minister Marcelo Ciolaco from the Social Democratic Party.
According to Politico, it is suspected that this Chinese platform contributed to the victory of pro-Russian ultra-nationalist Georgesco, who had no party support. However, it was massively promoted on TikTok, allegedly also through thousands of fake accounts.
In connection with the Romanian presidential elections, the CEO of TikTok, Shou C’che, was summoned to the European Parliament to explain these suspicions.
Source: spravy.pravda.sk
