Commission convenes very large online platforms and search engines to monitor election readiness for the Romanian elections
With the ongoing elections in Romania, the European Commission has reaffirmed its commitment to enforce the Digital Services Act to ensure Very Large Online Platforms and Search Engines (VLOPs and VLOSEs) uphold their responsibility in safeguarding electoral processes.
For this reason, the Commission services held an online roundtable yesterday, 29 November, with VLOPs and VLOSEs, the Romanian Digital Services Coordinator ANCOM, relevant state authorities and civil society organisations to gather information and ensure preparedness for the ongoing Romanian elections.
TikTok, Meta, Google, Microsoft, and X were among the participants who attended the roundtable. During the meeting, the Commission’s services requested the VLOPs and VLOSEs to share information on their risk assessment and mitigation measures in the context of the Romanian Presidential elections on 24 November and 8 December as well as the Parliamentary elections on 1 December 2024.
Participants shared information on the perceived threats to electoral procedures and their processes for identification of specific risks in the Romanian context, including platform manipulation. Furthermore, the participants discussed cooperation with all relevant stakeholders, mitigation measures in relation to platforms’ recommender systems and the importance of ensuring access to data for independent researchers in order to identify and understand systemic risks related to electoral processes.
The integrity of elections remains a key priority in the implementation of the DSA. The Commission is monitoring developments closely and remains vigilant to ensure the effective enforcement of the DSA. There are already three ongoing proceedings opened by the Commission for suspected violation of the DSA obligations relevant for this enforcement priority: the ongoing proceedings against X concerning amongst others the effectiveness of measures taken to combat information manipulation on the platform, and the proceedings against Facebook and Instagram, which include a focus on deceptive advertisement and disinformation.
Furthermore, against the background of the ongoing Romanian elections, the Commission sent a further Request for Information to TikTok. The Commission is requesting TikTok to provide more information on its management of the risks related to information manipulation, such as the inauthentic or automated exploitation of its service.
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