Exploring the aftermath of the annulment of Romanian election results – social media platforms, the democratic process, and the role of the DSA
EDRi member ApTI recaps events leading up to and after the annulment of the December 2024 result of the first round of Presidential elections in Romania. Investigations confirm TikTok’s failure to follow European and national electoral law. With the elections set to take place again later this year, ApTI explores the relationship between the discourse on social media platforms, the democratic process and how legislation such as the DSA can act as a safeguard.
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Exploring the aftermath of the annulment of Romanian election results – social media platforms, the democratic process, and the role of the DSA
EDRi member ApTI recaps events leading up to and after the annulment of the December 2024 result of the first round of Presidential elections in Romania. Investigations confirm TikTok’s failure to follow European and national electoral law. With the elections set to take place again later this year, ApTI explores the relationship between the discourse on social media platforms, the democratic process and how legislation such as the DSA can act as a safeguard.
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Why EDRi is leaving X and where to find us
Since Musk’s acquisition of X in October 2022, we have been working towards an exit strategy. Recent developments and Musk becoming part of the second Trump administration have contributed to a unique and toxic platform power-grab, which has accelerated our X-it timeline. EDRi is joining many other organisations and people in leaving X by the end of January 2025. On 20 January, we will host an important X Spaces conversation to encourage our followers to join Mastodon.
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Meta and X are going rogue. Here is what Europe should do now.
With Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and many other tech billionaires cuddling up to an ever more authoritarian Trump administration, it is crucial that the EU sticks to stringent enforcement of its tech laws. However, to solve the core problem, we have to curb the immense grip Big Tech has on our institutions and invest in truly independent digital alternatives.
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TikTok catalyses extremist views and breaches electoral legislation in Romania
Romanian civil society is alarmed about political advertisement on TikTok breaching European and national laws and how that benefited an extremist candidate in the elections. EDRi member ApTI with 20 other NGOs from Romania call upon the European Commission and the national authorities to take swift action and investigate, as elections are still ongoing.
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Croatian TikTok: A battleground between pro-EU and anti-EU narratives
Gong, a Croatian democracy watchdog organisation and EDRi member, published an analysis of the political narratives on TikTok during the national 2024 election campaign. The research explores the political narratives and environment on TikTok in the pre-campaign and campaign period for the Croatian parliamentary elections. It highlights a vibrant and intricate political landscape on TikTok in Croatia, marked by a division between democratic and anti-democratic narratives aimed at swaying the platform's younger audience.
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2023 Digital Rights Update: Eastern Partnership CSO Meter
Countries of the Eastern Partnership region continue digitalisation efforts and some implemented promising data protection legislation. However, the expansion of surveillance and spread of disinformation put digital rights under constant pressure in 2023.
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Open letter: EU Lawmakers must uphold human rights to privacy and free expression in the Political Ads Regulation
EDRi and 26 civil society organisations, voice our deep concern regarding the worrying developments related to the Regulation on the Targeting and Transparency of Political Advertising.
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Everyone is on Mastodon now, but why?
Millions of people and organisations are flocking to Mastodon in the wake of Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover. EDRi is among those who recently started using the decentralised and free social network. What does Mastodon do better, and why does it get digital rights groups all excited?
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European perspectives: Fight against disinformation by improving standards in journalism and empowering citizens
Disinformation cannot be suppressed by only regulation and laws, it is necessary to empower the media and journalists, invest in quality and independent journalism, as well as in democratic political culture, media literacy and digital literacy of the EU citizens, concluded the Gong conference “European Perspectives: Impact of Disinformation on Health” Democracy and the Digital Environment”.
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When the political party votes for you: Can we have a fair election with surveillance political advertising?
A new regulation on online advertising was proposed last December to address political ads, which identifies in one definition, two techniques to deliver political ads: targeting and amplification.
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Not everything is allowed in politics: Upcoming political advertising legislation must introduce limits
In November 2021, the European Commission launched a proposal for a regulation on the transparency and targeting of political advertising. The document will place harmonised rules for more transparency of political advertising to facilitate the sector’s internal market. Now, it is the European Parliament’s turn, specifically the IMCO (Internal Market and Consumer Protection) Committee to lead the legislative process.
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What you need to know about the Facebook Papers
Facebook is now undergoing what may be the tech giant’s biggest crisis in its 17-year history. In October, The Washington Post reported that a second Facebook whistleblower came forward to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, alleging that the company prioritises growth over combating hate speech, disinformation, and other threats to the public. The whistleblower’s testimony follows that of former Facebook employee Frances Haugen, whose legal counsel released what’s known as the Facebook Papers — a 10,000-page collection of internal reports, memos, and chat logs leaked to more than a dozen major news outlets.
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