The November presidential vote has been annulled due to attempts to influence votes through social media.
ADVERTISEMENTOnline platforms TikTok, Meta, Google and X have been invited to take part in an election stress test on Thursday organised by the Romanian communications regulator Ancom, ahead of the first round of the new presidential election on 4 May, after the November election was annulled.
The exercise aims to test the capacity of those involved in the electoral process and to address potential online challenges that may arise during the election period, Ancom told Euronews.
Representatives of the European Commission, national authorities and civil society organisations were also invited. The Commission confirmed to Euronews that it will take part in the stress test.
It’s up to the national regulator to organise a stress test to check the platforms’ compliance with the Digital Services Act (DSA) ahead of a vote, but this was not done before the initial November election.
Under the DSA, platforms with more than 45 million active users in the EU, have the obligation to mitigate risks related to electoral processes, while protecting fundamental rights and the right to freedom of expression.
The Romanian election was pitched into the spotlight after the first round was invalidated on the basis of intelligence reports which allegedly showed Russian involvement in voter influence through social media to support the then-relatively unknown nationalist candidate Călin Georgescu.
Because of Georgescu’s popularity on TikTok, the Commission began a probe into the role of the platform during the campaign to check whether it breached the DSA in relation to risk assessment and election integrity. The outcome of the case is still pending.
The Romanian authorities banned Georgescu earlier this month from running due to his failure to comply with the rules during the previous election.
Earlier this month, on 3 March, the platforms participated in an election roundtable to discuss the application of the DSA in the context of the presidential elections.
