TikTok defends handling of Romania election content in grilling by EU lawmakers

BUCHAREST, Romania — TikTok took down several networks that tried to meddle in Romania’s elections, executives said Tuesday as they defended the company’s election integrity measures to European Union lawmakers. TikTok applied its “global playbook” for the Romanian election and took a local approach with staff on the ground, said Caroline Greer, the company’s top lobbyist in the EU. “But it is simply not convincing — and it also doesn’t reflect what is happening online.” According to a report by the Bucharest-based Expert Forum think tank, Georgescu’s TikTok account garnered 92.8 million views primarily within the last few months, a figure that grew by 52 million views a week later, just days ahead of the first-round vote. In an emailed statement to The Associated Press on Monday, TikTok said the account was one of “more than 150 accounts impersonating Georgescu” to date that has been removed, but added: “We also removed more than 650 additional impersonation accounts belonging to other candidates.” Georgescu will face reformist Elena Lasconi, of the progressive Save Romania Union party, in a presidential runoff on Sunday.