Several politicians have complained that public opinion has been manipulated through social media

After the results of the first round of the presidential elections came out, several politicians complained that public opinion was manipulated through social networks, and on Tuesday several state institutions publicly offered explanations.

Alina Bordeiasu has details: "The National Authority for Administration and Regulation in Communications says that TikTok did not take prompt action as requested by the Permanent Electoral Authority, which signaled various irregularities related to illegally distributed content, and the National Audiovisual Council has referred the matter to the European Commission because the platform, although it has assumed that it does not advertise politics, allowed independent candidate Calin Georgescu to do exactly that.

He rejected the accusations, saying that he has no trolls to amplify his messages on social media. USR is going to refer the matter to the state institutions regarding the way Calin Georgescu's campaign was conducted, the party's presidential candidate Elena Lasconi announced.

The Renew group in the European Parliament has also asked the management of the Chinese social network TikTok to provide explanations on its compliance with the legislation on digital services. The request was addressed yesterday in the European Parliament to the group's leader Valerie Hayer, following the score obtained by independent candidate Calin Georgescu in the first round of the Romanian presidential elections. A year ago, the European Commission asked staff to remove the TikTok app from their work devices."

Translated by: Radu Matei