Romania calls for “emergency measures” against TikTok, accused of having been the scene of a pro-Russian electoral manipulation operation

“I demand the suspension of the TikTok platform in Romania, until the institutions’ investigation into the manipulation of the November 24 electoral process is completed.” The statements on Wednesday by the vice-president of Ancom, the Romanian telecoms, media and digital regulator, illustrate the great anger of the country’s authorities towards ByteDance’s video application. The Supreme Council of National Defense on Thursday called for “emergency measures” against this entertainment service, the day after the political earthquake caused by the first round of the presidential election.

TikTok is in fact suspected of having been the scene of a coordinated electoral manipulation operation, the objective of which would have been to push the application’s algorithms to make Calin Georgescu, extremist, conspiratorial, pro-Russian, unaffiliated candidate, viral to a political party and until then almost unknown. The latter came first in the first round with 23% of…