We recognise the Romanian presidential election is a significant event under intense public scrutiny. While we continue to closely monitor developments in the country and in line with our commitments to safeguard the integrity of our platform and address misleading claims transparently, we're sharing additional information about our ongoing work to uphold election integrity.

Across the European Union, we have more than 6,000 trust and safety professionals dedicated to keeping our platform safe. We've also increased resources on our Romanian elections task force by adding more than 120 subject matter experts across multiple teams including Deceptive Behaviour (which includes Covert Influence Operations analysts), Security, Ads Integrity and more; and we're integrating the most recent insights from our expert partners into our policies and guidelines on misinformation and impersonation. We also have 95 Romanian-speaking moderators, which is the largest such team among digital platforms in the country, both in absolute terms and relative to the number of users. And globally, this work is reinforced by tens of thousands of additional safety and security professionals along with 20 fact-checking partners, including in Romania.

Over the last few weeks, we've proactively identified and disrupted several covert influence networks, prevented and removed tens of thousands of fake accounts and engagements, and banned hundreds of accounts impersonating presidential candidates.

Countering covert influence operations

We prohibit covert influence operations and remain constantly vigilant against attempts to use deceptive behaviours and manipulate our platform. We have reported removing over 40 new covert influence networks this year so far, including three in Romania in recent months. This includes:

  • A network of 22 accounts operating from Romania that attempted to target Romanian audiences in order to spread misinformation and promote narratives critical of the current Romanian government, which we transparently reported in September.
  • A network of 78 accounts operating from Romania, with 1,781 followers, that attempted to promote candidate Călin Georgescu on TikTok - which to-date is the only network we've identified that focused on promoting Calin Georgescu as a prominent topic. We assessed this network was operating from Romania and disrupted it in late November. This will be reflected in our November Covert Influence Operations Report.
  • A network of 12 accounts operating from Romania, with 1,704 followers, that attempted to amplify narratives in Romanian favourable to independent political candidate Mircea Geoană. We assessed this network was operating from Romania and disrupted it in late November. This will also be reflected in our November Covert Influence Operations Report.
  • In addition to networks specifically originating from Romania, it's worth highlighting our broader defences against covert influence campaigns across Europe. In September 2024, we took global action against a covert network linked to Sputnik Media. When we remove such networks, we continue monitoring for any attempts to re-emerge. As part of our anti-recidivism strategy, we removed 11 accounts in November 2024 believed to be associated with Sputnik Media and targeting Romanian and Moldovan audiences.

We proactively seek and continuously investigate leads for potential influence operations, collaborating closely with relevant authorities to share expertise and clarify our policies. That includes looking for signs of coordinated inauthentic behaviour, and considering context from platforms other than TikTok. We're also working with government authorities and encourage them to share any intelligence so that we can work together to ensure the integrity of the election. The networks we have detected specifically targeting the Romanian elections have so far been small scale operations coordinated on TikTok that operated domestically. We also look closely at off platform activity to prevent covert influence operations and deceptive behaviours.

Tackling Deceptive Behaviours at Scale

We prohibit a wide-range of deceptive behaviours, in order to help our community access information that is reliable, discover content that is original, and engage with people who are authentic. To uphold our integrity and authenticity policies, since September we proactively prevented nearly 45,000,000 fake likes, more than 27,000,000 fake follow requests and blocked more than 400,000 spam accounts from creation in Romania.

We also removed:

  • +115,000 fake accounts
  • +7,000,000 fake likes
  • +11,000,000 fake followers
  • +1,100 accounts impersonating presidential candidates.

Inaccurate information on the platform can take many forms beyond targeted disinformation campaigns, which is why our Community Guidelines prohibit misleading AI-generated content and deceptive behaviour as well as harmful misinformation. Our Romanian Election Moderation Guidelines are applicable to all content on the platform and all users, including political candidates as set out in our Community Guidelines. It's also why we have rules prohibiting impersonation and political advertising, and one of the reasons why we classified each and every presidential candidate account as a Government, Politician, and Political Party Account (GPPPA), which enabled us to subject them to policies designed to help prevent misuse of certain features, including monetisation features.

In order to enforce our political advertising prohibition effectively, we have robust, round the clock, pre and post publication processes in place. In Romania, these comprise automated detection and human moderation, by moderators who receive additional, specific training on our political advertising policies. We prohibit political content in both paid advertising (i.e. where TikTok would receive remuneration) and in branded content (e.g. where an individual promotes a candidate or party in exchange for payment or any other incentive). We also remove content that constitutes unmarked branded content based on evidence-based requests or credible information obtained by the appropriate regulatory authorities.

Respecting the law

TikTok is committed to complying with its obligations under the Digital Services Act as well as respecting local laws. We continue to engage regularly with regional and national authorities to address requests and discuss concerns. We have already promptly responded to content related requests from the authorities under Romanian laws and continue to do so. In addition, this week, we publicly answered questions from lawmakers at the European Parliament Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection. Finally, we are cooperating with the European Commission in relation to their requests.

Our elections taskforce will continue to diligently protect our Romanian TikTok community and enforce our Community Guidelines to help ensure people can safely express themselves on topics that matter to them. We'll also continue to elevate reliable election information through our Election Center and labels on election content.

For more information on existing safety measures, we've reposted our Romanian elections blog post below, which we've translated to English.

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We shared the the following newsroom post with media on November 22, prior to the election. We've translated it into English and republished it below to add additional context on how we have approached safeguarding our platform through this election:

TikTok’s measures to protect the election integrity in Romania

TikTok and Funky Citizens are launching a joint campaign on digital literacy

Bucharest, November 22, 2024 – In the context of Romania’s Presidential and Parliamentary elections, TikTok reaffirms its commitment to protecting the integrity of the electoral process and providing a safe and responsible online space for its users. With a global team of tens of thousands of Trust and Safety experts, including more than 6,000 in the EU, strategic partnerships, in-app resources (such as the Election Center, Search Guide, and Short Video Notice Tag, which are currently active for Romania’s elections), and media literacy initiatives, TikTok is dedicated to combating misinformation and facilitating access to official information for its over 8.1 million users in Romania. According to the latest Community Guidelines Enforcement Report for Q2 2024, 99.2% of content containing electoral misinformation was proactively removed before being reported, and 98.5% of such content was removed within 24 hours.

As part of TikTok's broader strategy to ensure the platform remains safe during the election period, the company focuses on three main pillars: enforcing policies (such as combating misinformation, addressing covert influence operations, and managing AI-generated content), supporting access to trustworthy information, and collaborating with experts. To this end, TikTok has partnered with the local NGO Funky Citizens to help the community safely navigate the platform and protect themselves against potential misinformation during the elections.

Collaboration with Funky Citizens to promote media literacy and combat misinformation

In collaboration with TikTok, Funky Citizens has developed a series of educational videos explaining how users can identify and avoid misinformation, use TikTok’s safety features, and critically evaluate content related to the electoral process. The Romanian community can find the video series with practical advice and useful information about the electoral process on Funky Citizens' official TikTok account, and in the in-app Election Center dedicated to Romania’s elections.

“The electoral period brings many opportunities for the spread of false information that can influence our decisions at the polls and, ultimately, our future. As an independent organization with experience in fact-checking and combating disinformation, we have chosen to play an active role in building media literacy skills among citizens. It is part of our mission to share our expertise in this field and collaborate with social media platforms to create a safer digital space”, stated Ana Dragomir, Communication Director, Funky Citizens.

“At TikTok, we are dedicated to protecting our community on the platform and ensuring access to accurate and reliable information, especially during important moments such as elections. Through our partnership with Funky Citizens, we aim to provide Romanian users with the resources they need to make informed decisions while safeguarding the integrity of our platform”, said Łukasz Gabler, Public Policy and Government Relations Manager CEE, TikTok.

TikTok facilitates access to official information about elections

To support the community during the election period, TikTok has introduced several new features in Romania. The in-app Election Center connects users to trusted official information, guiding them to the Permanent Electoral Authority’s page. Additionally, the Election Center provides local users with access to videos created in collaboration with Funky Citizens to help them critically analyze online election-related content.


Users can easily find our election center through special information banners in the search section and automatic labels added to election-related content. This approach ensures easier access to credible and reliable information.


Strict measures against political advertising and covert influence

TikTok enforces strict measures and rules to ensure a fair online experience. The platform prohibits political advertising, paid promotion of political content, and fundraising by government or political accounts. In the first half of 2024, 1,327 ads were removed across the European Economic Area for violating platform policies on high-risk misinformation, false medical information, conspiracy theories, synthetic and manipulated content, and political content.

Moreover, TikTok’s policy for state-affiliated media includes labeling accounts whose editorial content or decision-making processes are subject to government control or influence. The platform collaborates with media experts, political scientists, academics, and representatives from international organizations and civil society to develop a validated, independent methodology for guiding the labeling of state-affiliated media entities. This ensures users have accurate, transparent, and actionable context when interacting with content from media entities representing governmental perspectives. Additionally, TikTok has restricted the eligibility of state-affiliated media accounts for the For You feed when targeting foreign audiences and has prohibited them from advertising on current affairs outside the country where they are registered.

TikTok experts also work continuously to identify and block covert influence operations, including fake accounts, foreign influence efforts, and organized disinformation campaigns targeting election processes, including those in European countries, to ensure that electoral messages genuinely reflect user intentions. TikTok bans accounts that try to engage in such behaviour, take action against others that are assessed as part of the network, and report them regularly in its Transparency Center. When the platform bans these accounts, any content they posted is also removed—just like it would be removed for any other banned account. TikTok regularly consults with third-party experts, including its global Content and Safety Advisory Councils, whose guidance helps it improve its policies and understand the regional context.

TikTok provides regular and detailed updates about the CIOs it disrupts and has introduced a new dedicated transparency report on CIOs, available in TikTok’s Transparency Centre. This report includes new information about operations previously removed from the platform that have attempted to return with new accounts.

Transparency and labeling for AI-generated content

TikTok has some of the industry's strictest policies regarding harmful AI-generated content (AIGC) and further expanded them this year to support election integrity as AI evolves. The platform requires users to label realistic AIGC and prohibits misleading AIGC involving public figures being falsely endorsed, harassed, or shown making endorsements. TikTok has invested in labeling technologies and tools, including the implementation of Content Credentials technology from the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA), which enables the automatic recognition and labeling of AI-generated content. This is complemented by a TikTok-developed tool that allows creators to easily label AI-generated content, already used by 37 million creators. TikTok’s commitment to AIGC transparency ensures a safe environment for users, who can easily identify synthetic content and understand its context.

These measures are supported by strategic collaborations with other leading tech companies to combat AI-generated misinformation, including signing the Tech Accord at the industry level to combat the deceptive use of AI in 2024 Elections at the Munich Security Conference this year. Furthermore, TikTok supports the new guidelines of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems.

Additionally, TikTok collaborates with 12 fact-checking organizations across Europe to evaluate the accuracy of content in most European languages, including Romanian. LeadStories serves as the fact-checking partner for Romania, and the platform continues to expand its fact-checking network.

TikTok remains a trusted partner for Romanian users during the 2024 elections. Through advanced protection measures, strategic collaborations with organizations such as Funky Citizens, as well as adherence to strict transparency standards, TikTok offers a safe and responsible digital environment. This ensures the community adopts a critical and reliable approach, allowing users to feel protected and access authentic information, particularly during the electoral process.