03.03.2025

Today, March 3, 2025, the National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications (ANCOM), as Digital Services Coordinator in Romania, organized a roundtable at the Victoria Palace on the application of the Digital Services Act (DSA) in the context of the presidential elections scheduled for May 2025. The event brought together representatives of national authorities, the European Commission, major online platforms and civil society.

Discussions focused on the obligations of very large online search platforms and engines (VLOP/VLOSE) under the DSA Regulation in the run-up to and during the elections. Participants also addressed topics such as the measures that the VLOP/VLOSE should take when and if a DSA violation occurs in relation to the May 2025 elections.

Specific issues approached included mitigation measures envisaged or already implemented by the VLOP/VLOSE, in line with the recommendations included in the European Commission's Guidelines on mitigating systemic risks to electoral processes. The reporting channels available to both national competent authorities and non-state actors (such as NGOs or representatives of academia) for reporting any problematic issues that could disrupt the electoral process, the moderation teams allocated by the platforms, the response time to the complaints received, the resources (both human and technological) allocated during the elections were also analyzed,  as well as ways to identify inauthentic behaviour, fact-checking programmes for Romania used by platforms, access to platform data by NGOs, the rapid response system (RRS), identifying and combating electoral disinformation, limitations and restrictions on political ads (with a focus on unethical payments for political content such as commercial advertising), ways to identify and combat coordinated disinformation campaigns, standardized reporting formats, etc.

The DSA Regulation aims to ensure a safe, predictable and trustworthy online environment. It contains rules for dealing with illegal content, while protecting freedom of expression and information online. In addition, it obliges online platforms and very large search engines (VLOP/VLOSE) to analyse, assess and, where possible, mitigate systemic risks arising from their services. These may include, for example, risks to fundamental rights stemming from the dissemination of illegal content or risks to electoral processes.

The guidelines on mitigating systemic risks to electoral processes are addressed to providers of very large online platforms (VLOPs) and very large online search engines (VLOSEs), as their services carry the risk of having real or foreseeable negative effects on electoral processes that are caused by the design, operation and use of those services. Very large online platforms and very large online search engines are under the direct supervision of the European Commission.

The discussions were attended by representatives of the Romanian Government, representatives of the European Commission, the Permanent Electoral Authority, the National Audiovisual Council, the National Directorate of Cyber Security, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, representatives of the major online platforms, namely TikTok, Google, Meta and X and representatives of civil society, respectively Save the Children Romania, "Elie Wiesel" National Institute for Studying the Holocaust in Romania, Expert Forum, Active Watch, Funky Citizens, Association for Technology and Internet and National University of Political Studies and Public Administration. The roundtable was moderated by George Buhnici.

Capacity Testing

On 27 March 2025, ANCOM will organise an exercise aimed at testing the capacity of entities involved in the electoral process and, in particular, of platforms to address manipulative behaviour that could occur during the election period, especially various manipulation tactics, techniques and procedures.

ANCOM as Digital Services Coordinator (DSC)

The role of the Authority is to ensure compliance with the DSA Regulation and to develop secondary legislation. ANCOM monitors the compliance of online platforms with the obligations related to the management of illegal content reports. The DSC works with other relevant national authorities to implement the necessary measures and apply sanctions where appropriate. It also coordinates activities at national level and provides reports to the European Commission, contributing to the exchange of information and best practices within the European Network of DSCs. Another key aspect of the DSC's work is participation in initiatives and task forces dedicated to safeguarding democratic processes, thus ensuring a safer and more transparent digital environment.

Important!

ANCOM cannot rule on the legality or illegality of published content that does not fall within its domain of competence. Public authorities or institutions with responsibilities in relation to the supervision of a particular sector or field of activity, referred to as relevant authorities, have the possibility to issue orders against illegal content or orders to provide information, in accordance with Articles 9 and 10 of the DSA Regulation. 

Orders may also be issued by judicial authorities in the context of actions, activities or procedures carried out by them according to their respective legal powers.

Briefly, the authorities that have competences in a certain domain in the offline environment, have the same competences in the online environment. So, authorities can take action against illegal content online within their domain of competence.