Disinformation can have devastating effects on free and open societies. The recent events in Romania underscore this fact once more: The Romanian constitutional court’s decision to annul the results of the presidential election’s first round came after revelations that the election had been targeted by malign foreign actors who used various means to spread disinformation.
While many details and the exact scope of the impact that disinformation had on the elections are yet unclear, current evidence suggests that disinformers exploited TikTok extensively to spread false and misleading narratives as documented by EFCSN member organisation Funky Citizens. Notably, the European Commission has opened formal proceedings against TikTok for a suspected failure to meet their obligations under the Digital Services Act (DSA) to properly assess and mitigate risks related to election integrity.
To help mitigate the threat of disinformation in the future, the EFCSN calls on TikTok to take effective countermeasures immediately, including:
- Devote substantial additional resources to counter disinformation tactics, especially in non-English speaking countries. This must include working with fact-checkers and civil society organisations to address the spread of disinformation through undisclosed paid messages by influencers.
- Expand its fact-checking program: For users to benefit from insights of organizations with specific expertise in their country and language, and to achieve comprehensive coverage, TikTok should increase the number of partnerships with local independent fact-checking organizations.
- Label all misinformation instead of only deleting what is harmful. According to TikTok’s policies, the platform deletes “harmful” misinformation. Although this might be appropriate when dealing with illegal content, deletions and removals fall short when fighting misinformation. The term “harmful” is unspecific and opens up loopholes for disinformers. Instead the platform could label all false or misleading content as other social media platforms do, thereby providing valuable context to its users while respecting freedom of expression.
- Allow for greater transparency about the fact-checking work done for TikTok, including publishing the reasoning and verdicts of fact-checkers and the actions taken by the platform based on those verdicts.
The situation in Romania highlights the dire consequences disinformation can have on our democracies, but TikTok and other big tech platforms can and must take steps to stop its spread.
The European Fact-Checking Standards Network is an association of fact-checking organizations who commit to the standards of independence, transparency, and journalistic quality outlined in the European Code of Standards for Independent Fact-Checking Organisations.
