WorthyNews: EU Orders TikTok Freeze Over Romania’s Pro-Russia Presidential Candidate (Worthy News In-Depth)

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By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

BUCHAREST/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – The European Union has ordered social media firm TikTok to freeze data linked to Romania’s elections after the meteoric rise in popularity of a pro-Russia presidential hopeful who says the moon landings “were staged,” soft drinks “include microchips” and disputes the chemical formula for water.

Calin Georgescu claims he has a “calling” to become Romania’s next head of state – and the admirer of Russian President Vladimir Putin could win, partly because of his highly successful TikTok campaign.

In a video address after the first round, he attributed his surge in support to a “holy miracle,” namely “the law of Jesus Christ’s wonderful multiplication: five loaves of bread and two fish that multiplied into 2.1 million votes.”

The 62-year-old nationalist’s victory in the first round of presidential elections last month rattled Romania’s political establishment and its allies.

Georgescu, a vaccine skeptic who has warm words for U.S. President-elect Donald J. Trump, wants to “put Romania first.”

However, Brussels and Washington worry that if he wins again in Sunday’s run-off ballot, it could change the orientation of a key member of the NATO military alliance.

EU, US CONCERNED

In statements reviewed by Worthy News, EU officials issued a “retention order” under the bloc’s controversial Digital Services Act, which regulates how the world’s biggest social media companies operate in Europe.

The move came while the United States voiced its concerns over potential foreign interference in Romania’s elections.

Far-right parties also performed well in Romania’s parliamentary election last Sunday, though the ruling leftist Social Democrats emerged as the largest party and hoped to cobble together a pro-EU and pro-NATO coalition government.

Documents declassified by Romanian security officials showed Georgescu was massively promoted on TikTok “through coordinated accounts, recommendation algorithms and paid promotion.”

Georgescu himself declared that zero funds had been spent on the campaign. The documents suggested Romania had been the target of “aggressive hybrid Russian attacks.”

However, Russia denied interference in Romania’s election campaigns, and the Romanian Constitutional Court validated the vote.

TIKTOK IS ‘COOPERATING’

A Tiktok spokesperson said: “We have already been cooperating with the [EU’s executive European] Commission and will continue to do so. We look forward to establishing the facts in light of some of the speculation and inaccurate reports we have seen.”

The controversy comes at a sensitive moment for Europe’s eastern flank.

Romania shares the European Union’s longest border with war-torn Ukraine, to which it has donated a Patriot missile battery and opened its ports to allow the export of Kyiv’s grain.

Georgescu has questioned the benefits of NATO membership and pushed for the country of 19 million people to adopt a policy of “neutrality” towards its neighbor while praising Putin as one of the world’s “few true leaders.”

The EU fears he could move Romania towards a pro-Russia camp with Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has come under pressure over his perceived authoritarian tendencies.

In Sunday’s second-round run-off, he will face 52-year-old Elena Lasconi, a former television presenter who is campaigning on a firmly pro-EU platform.

FIRST WOMAN PRESIDENT?

Lasconi, Romania’s first woman president if she wins, pledged to keep the country aligned with the EU and NATO.

She also warned that a Georgescu victory “could push the country back toward Russia and the dark days of dictatorship.”

Lasconi recalled that Romania was under the military and economic control of the Soviet Union until the late 1950s. Soon after, it came under communist rule for four decades until 1989, when dictator Nicolae Ceausescu was deposed and executed.

Four major Romanian political parties sharing Lasconi’s concerns formed a coalition on Wednesday night, vowing to keep Romania on a pro-EU and pro-NATO path.

The Social Democrats, the Liberals, the reformist Save Romania Union (USR), the Hungarian minority party UDMR, and representatives of other ethnic minorities said they wanted “to prevent international isolation” for Romania.

They promised to maintain economic development and combat the rising cost of living in what is one of the poorest EU countries.

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