TikTok disinformation falsely accuses von der Leyen of cancelling Romania’s presidential run-off

euronews (in English)

Euronews' verification team has detected pro-Georgescu TikTok accounts falsely pinning responsibility for the cancelled second round of voting on the EU Commission chief.

Transcript

00:00No, von der Leyen didn't call off the Romanian election.

00:08Misinformation circulating online falsely accuses European Commission chief Ursula von

00:13der Leyen of calling off the second round of Romania's presidential election.

00:19The run-off vote was indeed cancelled by Romania's constitutional court earlier this month after

00:25this little-known ultra-nationalist Kalin Georgescu swept to victory in the first round.

00:32A state actor was behind his successful TikTok campaign, according to declassified Romanian

00:38intelligence.

00:39But von der Leyen and the EU institutions she leads didn't make the decision to cancel

00:44the vote.

00:45Yet, we detected several videos on TikTok falsely accusing von der Leyen of pressuring

00:51Bucharest to prevent Georgescu from being elected by cancelling the second round.

00:57Many of them show signs of AI manipulation and of being artificially multiplied across

01:02channels.

01:04Several Romanian websites have also accused von der Leyen of interfering in the election.

01:09They cite what they describe as influential French media outlet Francois, but which is

01:15in fact a known disinformation platform owned by a conspiracy theorist.

01:20We also detected news reports making similar claims on YouTube.

01:24Let's break down why these claims are unfounded.

01:27This was a domestic judicial decision made by the Romanian constitutional court, which

01:31cited intelligence disclosures suggesting the legality of the election was at risk.

01:37The European Commission has intervened by urgently requesting more information from

01:42TikTok about its potential role in the electoral campaign.

01:46But this is part of the EU's action to prevent the spread of disinformation on online platforms

01:50under its digital rulebook, known as the Digital Services Act.

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