By: Maida Salkanović
Călin Georgescu’s unexpected victory in the first round of Romania’s presidential elections defied pre-election polling and political forecasts. A far-right candidate with pro-Russian leanings, he had barely registered in traditional media coverage but gained significant traction on TikTok. In what appeared to be a coordinated campaign, Georgescu’s videos shared under his name and hashtag flooded TikTok, triggering the algorithm to boost his content and reach a wider audience. Content included false claims and unfounded theories, such as Western conspiracies against Romania. By bypassing mainstream media scrutiny, his campaign thrived in TikTok’s attention-driven environment, where short-form videos proved more effective than traditional political messaging.
TikTok’s Expanding Influence in Southeast Europe
Given TikTok’s global popularity, its influence on public opinion is unsurprising. Its short, engaging videos have become a primary news source for younger audiences, often replacing traditional outlets. Similarweb data shows that TikTok consistently ranks among the most-used apps in Southeast Europe (SEE), securing a top-five spot in Serbia and remaining popular in other countries in the region (1, 2, 3), mirroring its global popularity.
Ilda Hoxha from the Albanian fact-checking organization Faktoje said for SEE Check that TikTok has become a leading source of information for young people in this country. “From the training sessions we’ve conducted with youth, it’s evident that much of the information they encounter on this platform is misleading or false. Moreover, TikTok has been used to disseminate fake news during tragic events, including cases of women’s suicides, where their photos were shared on the platform,” she added.
The app’s format—short, rapid-fire videos—fuels its virality and influence. Fact-checkers and digital experts across the region have noted that TikTok’s engagement algorithms reward emotionally charged content, making it fertile ground for conspiracy theories and political manipulation. Unlike other leading social networks, the platform enables extensive unpaid reach and rapid popularity growth. Ivan Subotić from FakeNews Tragač, a Serbian fact-checking outlet, noted: “FN Tragač launched our TikTok profile almost three years ago, and since then, it has become one of the most visited parts of our platform, primarily for reaching younger audiences. Some of our videos have garnered hundreds of thousands of views, unlike other social networks, particularly Meta platforms, where achieving even a moderate reach without paid promotion is nearly impossible.”
Edin Halilović, CEO of Lilium Digital, explained for SEE Check that the difference in reach between TikTok and Meta platforms lies in their respective stages of growth and monetization strategies. As he put it, “Any social network that is in a phase of expansion will offer users significant reach because it wants to motivate content creators, including media outlets, to generate and publish content on the platform.” Conversely, once platforms like Facebook and Instagram establish themselves as market leaders, they gradually reduce organic reach in favor of promoting paid content. Halilović added, “Once a social network establishes itself as relevant in the market, it gradually begins to reduce organic reach, filling users’ feeds with an increasing amount of commercial content.”
Political Manipulation and TikTok’s Loopholes
While TikTok officially bans paid political advertising, politicians often find indirect, disingenuous ways to boost their influence on the platform. For example, Georgescu has been accused of using bot accounts to inflate his popularity. These tactics are also emerging in the region.
According to Ana Sorić, a journalist from the Croatian fact-checking platform Faktograf, “The spread of disinformation intensified during the presidential campaign when we discovered suspicious activity on the TikTok profile of HDZ candidate Dragan Primorac. TikTok eventually removed over 7,000 bots from his account.”
Disinformation campaigns during Croatia’s elections extended beyond bot networks. NGO Gong monitored TikTok’s role in the election and identified misleading viral content targeting candidate Ivana Kekin, among other irregularities. Gong’s Svjetlana Knežević noted: “After Gong’s warning and report on problematic viral content spreading disinformation in the presidential campaign, TikTok reacted remarkably quickly (…) It appears that, following the Romanian elections and EU demands, TikTok has started communicating more rigorously with DSA national coordinators, trusted flaggers, and civil society, leading to swift removal of problematic and illegal content. However, social networks should be more transparent about what content is removed, from whom, and why.”
In addition to political promotion, political attacks also occur. For example, Bosnian fact-checking platform Raskrinkavanje uncovered an account targeting Banja Luka Mayor Draško Stanivuković, which appeared to be part of a coordinated attack campaign ahead of the October 2024 local elections. The account featured homophobic, nationalist, and secessionist content.
TikTok’s Regulatory Challenges and Bans
TikTok is facing increasing regulatory scrutiny. In the United States, an outright ban was announced but later delayed by President Donald Trump’s executive order, as the administration seeks a solution to keep the platform operational. In Albania, a ban was announced in response to concerns about minors’ safety, particularly after a tragic incident involving a teenager. However, Ilda Hoxha clarifies that the ban has not yet been enacted.
In France, a partial TikTok block occurred in New Caledonia amid political unrest, marking a precedent within the EU.
Maida Ćulahović, media and digital policy expert from the citizens’ association Zašto Ne, highlighted that arbitrary restrictions on platforms can inspire bad regulations elsewhere and may lead to the suppression of legitimate online expression under the guise of security concerns. “From a regulatory standpoint, banning a service without a clear process or solid evidence is irrational and undemocratic, especially for EU candidate countries. These actions can inspire bad regulations elsewhere, leading to arbitrary restrictions on online platforms,” she said.
The Digital Services Act (DSA) and TikTok’s Future
The European Commission launched formal proceedings against TikTok under the Digital Services Act (DSA) over allegations of foreign influence and election interference in Romania linked to Călin Georgescu’s victory. The investigation will assess whether TikTok failed to address systemic risks of disinformation and manipulation. As a very large online platform (VLOP), TikTok is required by the DSA to implement strict transparency, content moderation, and risk assessment measures to prevent electoral interference.
Ćulahović explained that while the DSA does not explicitly regulate disinformation, it introduces accountability measures: “For very large online platforms, it enforces obligations such as risk assessment and mitigation strategies related to disinformation and election integrity.” She added that the legislation compels platforms to evaluate how their algorithms, content recommendation systems, and moderation policies could contribute to the spread of harmful content. The DSA also encourages platforms to collaborate with fact-checkers and independent oversight bodies to counter the spread of disinformation.
In Croatia, an EU member state, the DSA is being implemented through the Croatian Regulatory Authority for Network Industries (HAKOM), which clarified for SEE Check that its role is “not to search for unlawful content but to ensure providers meet DSA obligations,” including transparency, content moderation, and election integrity. The agency has collaborated with platforms like TikTok, Google, Meta, and X to establish clear reporting channels and risk assessments ahead of elections.
HAKOM states that while it monitors compliance within Croatia, cross-border enforcement in the region is more complex: “If content is unlawful under Croatian law but hosted by a provider based outside the EU, enforcement depends on international cooperation. The DSA provides mechanisms for such coordination, but challenges remain in ensuring consistent application across different jurisdictions.”
For EU candidate countries in SEE, the challenge is aligning legal frameworks with DSA principles. “While candidate countries aren’t required to implement the DSA, there’s a strong push to align with its focus on risk assessment and platform accountability, avoiding misuse for censorship or restrictive measures,” said Ćulahović.
TikTok’s Disinformation Challenges Beyond Politics
Beyond political disinformation, TikTok hosts various misleading content, including scams (1, 2), already common on Instagram and Facebook, and conspiracy theories.
Vesna Radojević from the Serbian fact-checking platform Raskrikavanje said: “We’ve observed that certain profiles, previously active on Facebook, have moved to TikTok, where they continue spreading false content. One notable example is Saša Borojević, a well-known conspiracy theorist whose content remains highly viral on TikTok.”
As part of its disinformation mitigation efforts, TikTok has partnered with fact-checking initiatives such as Faktograf and Internews Kosovo. Faktograf’s Ana Sorić points out a key distinction between TikTok and Meta platforms: “Unlike Meta, TikTok allows fact-checking of politicians’ posts. This policy enabled us to uncover bot networks supporting Dragan Primorac and identify disinformation campaigns targeting Ivana Kekin.”
The program, however, has faced criticism from the fact-checking community for its lack of transparency, since nobody outside of the program actually knows details of its functioning. But it is known that rather than flagging inaccurate content in order to show facts next to disinformation and let the public decide what to believe, the program focuses on outright content removal. Unlike Meta, where users can view the argumentation and facts provided in fact-check, Tiktok program leaves the process opaque—only the administrator responsible for the removal is aware of the reasoning. Fact-checks in this way are not publicly available, and the only people who can see it are the administrators who are choosing whether to remove or keep the content. Yet another problem with the program is that criteria for content removal are not clearly outlined. Fact-checking communities criticize this approach and underline that flagging and adding context is always a better option compared to content removal.
“I believe TikTok should focus less on removing misleading content and more on labeling it and using it as an educational tool. A good practice would be for deceptive content to remain accessible at the same link, but instead of disinformation, the video could be replaced with one explaining the process of deconstructing the false claim and why it is harmful,” said Subotić.
SEE Check reached out to TikTok for comment on their disinformation policies but has yet to receive a response.
A Shifting Landscape
The case of Romania’s elections underscores how TikTok’s role in disinformation remains a developing challenge. As the European Commission ramps up enforcement under the DSA it seems like it could bring some positive effects inside the EU, but at the same time the future of disinformation management on TikTok outside of the EU remains uncertain.
