28.11.2024

Yesterday, ANCOM had a new meeting with the representatives of the European Commission, this time with the participation of representatives of the company that owns TikTok. The meeting was also attended by representatives of the Permanent Electoral Authority and the National Audiovisual Council. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss the notifications of the Romanian authorities regarding the conduct of the electoral campaign for the election of the President of Romania through this digital platform.

According to the DSA Regulation, the supervision of very large online platforms (VLOP, such as TikTok) and very large search engines (VLOSE, such as Google or Bing), as well as the monitoring of their new obligations’ implementation, fall within the competence of the European Commission.

Under current legislation, it is the European Commission that can order various measures to ensure that the VLOP and VLOSE comply with their obligations under the DSA Regulation, ranging from requests for information and inspections to the imposition of fines.  The Commission's Guidelines to providers of very large online platforms and very large online search engines on mitigating systemic risks to electoral processes pursuant to Article 35(3) of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 are also in force. ANCOM has signaled on every occasion the importance of applying the guidelines adopted by the European Commission to the utmost extent.

The Authority will continue to make available to the European Commission, in accordance with its role under the DSA Regulation, all information available at national level so that the latter can take the measures it deems appropriate.

We reiterate that ANCOM, as the national Digital Services Coordinator, cannot impose measures against large platforms such as TikTok and that it will apply all legal provisions to help protect the rights of end users in Romania.