Romania, 11 EU States Urge EU Commission to Protect Elections

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Romania, along with 11 other European Union countries, are asking the European Commission to use its prerogatives under the Digital Services Act to protect the integrity of European elections from foreign interference, according to a letter signed by the bloc’s 12 member states, Reuters reports.

In the letter, EU affairs ministers from France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Cyprus, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Romania, Slovenia and Spain called on the Commission to follow through on its promises to create a European body dedicated to combating foreign information manipulation and interference.

“The growing threats of foreign interference and disruptive interventions in public debates during key electoral events pose a direct challenge to our stability and sovereignty,” the letter says.

“The recent incidents require urgent and united action to defend future EU elections,” the 12 countries said in the letter. EU diplomats said the letter mainly referred to interference by Russia and China, but also to other cases.

“We urge the Commission to take the lead by making full use of the powers granted under the Digital Services Act (DSA),” the 12 countries say in the letter.
The digital services package requires major internet platforms such as X, Facebook, TikTok and others to moderate and remove harmful content, such as hate speech, racism or xenophobia.  Otherwise, the Commission can impose fines of up to 6% of their annual global turnover.
Germany has early parliamentary elections on February 23 and has set up a task force to counter any attempts by a foreign state to influence the vote after warning of Russian-sponsored espionage and sabotage.
Last week, Elon Musk, the owner of the social media platform X, appeared via video link at a campaign event for the German far-right AfD party to support the party. It was the second time in as many weeks.
In December, the Commission opened an investigation into TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, over suspicions that it failed to limit electoral interference in Romania’s November presidential vote.
On December 6, the Constitutional Court annulled the results of the first round of the presidential election, won by Călin Georgescu, based on declassified documents received by the CSAT from the SRI, SIE, MAI and STS.
The SRI reports speak of a pre-prepared operation in favor of Călin Georgescu that has the “mode of operation of a state actor.” Government officials in Poland, which is holding presidential elections in May, have warned that Russia is recruiting citizens on the dark web to influence the election.
Fake news that puts Călin Georgescu in a good light is being spread on TikTok
In the last 24 hours, a TikTok account has started distributing fake news using the visual identity of well-known Romanian websites, notably digi24.ro. Two of the fake news stories distributed by this account have already garnered tens of thousands of views. The content of this account is mainly based on false information that puts Călin Georgescu in a good light.
“Klaus Iohannis: “If Russia does not immediately stop its military aggression against Ukraine, Romania will be forced to go to war to defend its sovereignty and allies!”.
This fake news story, in which the digi24.ro image is misused, was posted 20 hours ago and has already garnered 161,000 views, 3,013 likes, 4,150 comments and has been shared 2,693 times. No comments were found that raise questions about the so-called statement. It should be noted that the president has never made such a statement.
Moreover, the video was also reposted by at least one other TikTok account commenting on the president’s alleged statements. This video also garnered over 13,000 views in just 16 hours. Another video in which a false statement is attributed to Marcel Ciolacu and which misuses the digi24.ro identity garnered 68,000 views in one day. I believe that Mr. Călin Georgescu is the best option for Romania, I will probably vote for him,” is the false statement attributed to Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu.
In the case of this video, some TikTok commenters were vigilant and reported that it was “a bad joke.” However, the video has garnered 1,655 likes, 1,300 comments, and 656 shares.
The account spreading disinformation on TikTok is called “getodacpatriot” and also uses the image of other news sites, in addition to digi24.ro. These include Euronews, Antena3, and Kyiv Post.
The digi24.ro editorial team asks readers who have TikTok accounts to report the getodacpatriot account, to help limit the spread of disinformation. Also, please check, when you find screenshots of the digi24.ro website on social networks, whether those news items were indeed published by us. Thank you!, reads a Digi 24 post.
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1 Comment
  1. Panagiotis Spyridis says

    It will never work! Concentrate on educating the young and the old not to believe fake news. Otherwise you risk banning genuine voices.

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