TikTok is being investigated for a possible violation of EU law, the European Commission has announced.
Ireland’s media regulator, Coimisiún na Meán, “will contribute with its expertise and analysis to the case”, the EU says, since TikTok’s European headquarters is in Dublin.
The European Commission says it will investigate whether the social media giant met its obligations to “properly assess and mitigate systemic risks linked to election integrity, notably in the context of the recent Romanian presidential elections on 24 November.”
The Romanian authorities have annulled the election result following allegations of Russian interference.
In a statement, European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, said the EU was acting to “protect our democracies from any kind of foreign interference.”
The investigation into TikTok will analyse data from the platform including its ‘recommender’ system and the company’s policies towards political advertisements and paid-for political content.
Earlier this month, the EU imposed a “retention order” on TikTok requiring the firm not to delete data or documents which might be requested during the investigation.
“The opening of formal proceedings does not prejudge its outcome”, the European Commission added.
Responding to the announcement by the EU, a TikTok spokesperson said:
“We’ve protected the integrity of our platform through over 150 elections around the world and continue proactively addressing these industry-wide challenges. TikTok has provided the European Commission with extensive information regarding these efforts, and we have transparently and publicly detailed our robust actions.
We do not accept paid political advertisements, we proactively remove content for violating our policies on misinformation, harassment and hate speech, and continue to work with the European Commission as well as regional and national authorities to address requests and discuss concerns.”