Euronews' verification team has detected pro-Georgescu TikTok accounts falsely pinning responsibility for the cancelled second round of voting on the EU Commission chief.
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00:00No, von der Leyen didn't call off the Romanian election.
00:08Misinformation circulating online falsely accuses European Commission chief Ursula von
00:13der Leyen of calling off the second round of Romania's presidential election.
00:19The run-off vote was indeed cancelled by Romania's constitutional court earlier this month after
00:25this little-known ultra-nationalist Kalin Georgescu swept to victory in the first round.
00:32A state actor was behind his successful TikTok campaign, according to declassified Romanian
00:38intelligence.
00:39But von der Leyen and the EU institutions she leads didn't make the decision to cancel
00:44the vote.
00:45Yet, we detected several videos on TikTok falsely accusing von der Leyen of pressuring
00:51Bucharest to prevent Georgescu from being elected by cancelling the second round.
00:57Many of them show signs of AI manipulation and of being artificially multiplied across
01:02channels.
01:04Several Romanian websites have also accused von der Leyen of interfering in the election.
01:09They cite what they describe as influential French media outlet Francois, but which is
01:15in fact a known disinformation platform owned by a conspiracy theorist.
01:20We also detected news reports making similar claims on YouTube.
01:24Let's break down why these claims are unfounded.
01:27This was a domestic judicial decision made by the Romanian constitutional court, which
01:31cited intelligence disclosures suggesting the legality of the election was at risk.
01:37The European Commission has intervened by urgently requesting more information from
01:42TikTok about its potential role in the electoral campaign.
01:46But this is part of the EU's action to prevent the spread of disinformation on online platforms
01:50under its digital rulebook, known as the Digital Services Act.