Romanian presidential candidate says TikTok should be temporarily shut down before elections

Elena Lasconi, presidential candidate and leader of the reformist Save Romania Union (USR) opposition party, said that “it would be very good” for the authorities to shut down TikTok before the presidential elections in May.

Lasconi made the statements during a visit to Slatina, in southern Romania. She added that the popular Chinese social platform would be closed down only for a limited time to prevent outside influence.

"If they are not able to assure us of this, I believe it would be very good to shut it down at least a week or two before the presidential elections and then reopen it,” Lasconi told journalists.

The candidate, who placed second in the cancelled presidential elections of 2024, narrowly beating the Social Democratic prime minister Marcel Ciolacu, said that “incompetence” has brought Romania to a point where it should shut down TikTok.

“I support freedom of expression and democracy, but as long as there is a risk of state and non-state influence, as we have been informed, I believe we could make such a decision," said Elena Lasconi in a press conference, cited by Agerpres.

Lasconi also said that fake news freely proliferates on TikTok and that the nine state institutions charged with securing the online environment are failing at their task.

“We have concrete proposals, including a legislative project submitted to Parliament, stating that fake news should be taken down within a maximum of 15 minutes, and a potentially manipulative message should not be allowed to be distributed to more than 150 people. There is a bill, but I see that it is still sitting in a drawer," she stated.

Other political leaders in Romania have repeatedly rejected banning the popular social media platform, which has amassed around 9 million users in Romania, roughly 47% of the population. Experts say Romania is especially vulnerable to fake news, as it has the lowest digital literacy skills in the EU, at around 1 in 2, compared to the Union average of 71%.

(Photo source: Inquam Photos | Adriana Neagoe)