Romanian regulator warns TikTok over disinformation ahead of Moldova election
Romania's National Audiovisual Council (CNA) has warned TikTok about "coordinated inauthentic behaviour" that could influence citizens voting in Romania for the Republic of Moldova's upcoming parliamentary elections.
The move, proposed by CNA president Valentin Jucan on Thursday, 4 September, was made under the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA). The regulation imposes new rules on digital platforms and search engines to create a safer online environment.
"Both Romania and the Republic of Moldova are targets of Russian information warfare," Mircea Toma, a CNA member, told Agerpres. "Moldova has declared a state of emergency and can use more suitable defensive measures. In Romania, we lack these tools and a special legal framework."
However, CNA member Georgică Severin voted against the decision. Severin argued the CNA's remit is limited to Romania's audiovisual sector. "The Republic of Moldova is a sovereign state, and its elections are not under our jurisdiction," he stated. He added that the DSA only applies to EU member states, and Moldova is not one. He concluded that the CNA's actions amounted to an "illegal and inappropriate involvement" in a neighbouring country's elections.
Mr Toma responded that the CNA's jurisdiction is in Romania and that the DSA applies there. He highlighted that Romania has over 650,000 dual citizens—Romanians with Moldovan citizenship and vice versa—who live in Romania but vote in Moldova. He argued the campaign was a "deceptive scheme" targeting all voters, and the CNA was acting to "protect the Romanian side."
The CNA's decision was based on a report by the Expert Forum (EFOR) concerning the September 28 parliamentary elections in the Republic of Moldova. The organisation highlighted a "coordinated inauthentic behaviour" it considered "illegal from the perspective of the platform's conduct."
Expert Forum detected "a coordinated network of 17 TikTok accounts that helped boost the promotion of parliamentary candidate Vasile Costiuc, generating over 1 million views using #vasilecostiuc in just one week."
According to the Expert Forum, Vasile Costiuc is the president of the "Democrația Acasă" political party. He is described as a radical unionist and a partner of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) party and its leader, George Simion, with whom he has undertaken joint political activities. Costiuc campaigned for AUR during the Romanian presidential elections, including media stunts about alleged—and unproven—voter fraud, which were then adopted and amplified by AUR. In the past, Costiuc was active in public campaigns to expose corruption, some of which were genuine while others were merely alleged. He was also part of a wider group of "puppet" politicians under the oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc, being used to act against the opposition at the time. Earlier reports indicated that Vasile Costiuc was involved in Russia in events organised by Alexandr Kondyakov, an FSB general. Vasile Costiuc has publicly denied any links to the Russian secret services.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
