EU Commission Directs TikTok to Safeguard Data During Elections

Brussels – The EU Commission has ordered TikTok to preserve data during Romanian and upcoming EU elections to address potential electoral threats.

The European Commission has intensified its monitoring of TikTok in the context of the ongoing Romanian elections, under the Digital Services Act (DSA). According to the press release of the EU Commission, this monitoring connects to the exercise of the Commission’s competencies under the DSA and does not point out the Romanian electoral process, which is a concern for the Romanian authorities and ultimately the Romanian people.

How is the European Commission ensuring election integrity via TikTok?

The European Commission has given a ‘retention order’ to TikTok under the DSA, ordering the medium to freeze and preserve data linked to actual or foreseeable systemic threats its service could pose on electoral procedures and civic discourse in the EU. 

EU commission demands that TikTok must preserve internal documents and details regarding the design and working of its recommender systems, as well as the way it addresses the threat of intentional manipulation via coordinated inauthentic use of the service. 

The European Commission has ordered the preservation of documents and information concerning any systematic violation of TikTok’s terms of service prohibiting the usage of monetisation features for the promotion of political content on the service. The retention order affects national elections in the European Union between 24 November 2024 and 31 March 2025. 

In her remarks, Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President for tech sovereignty, security and democracy, commented: “We ordered TikTok today to freeze and preserve all data and evidence linked to the Romanian elections, but also for upcoming elections in the EU. This preservation order is a key step in helping investigators establish the facts and adds to our formal requests for information which seek information following the declassification of secret documents yesterday. We are also intensifying contacts with digital and cyber regulators across Europe in light of emerging evidence of systematic inauthentic activity. I am committed to diligent and robust enforcement of the Digital Services Act”.