Council Vice President Valentin-Alexandru Jucan said it believed the platform's algorithms had amplified material favourable to a single candidate and that it had lacked transparency about who was sponsoring election content. Neither TikTok nor the European Commission responded to requests for comment.

A member of Romania's coalition government threw its weight behind the centrist candidate in a presidential election run-off late on Monday, as the NATO member braces for a ballot that may propel an anti-NATO candidate to its highest office.

Hundreds rallied in the Romanians capital, Bucharest, a day after the surprise victory of a pro-Russian far-right candidate in the first round of presidential elections. Protesters at the November 25 rally denounced Calin Georgescu,

Most polls predicted Calin Georgescu to win less than 10% of the vote in the first round of Romania’s presidential election.

Calin Georgescu, who has stunned Romania and its European allies by leading the first round of the eastern European country's presidential election, is a far-right, self-styled outsider critical of NATO and of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

The pro-Russian nationalist candidate Calin Georgescu had racked up a definitive 350,000 vote lead in an upset in Romania's presidential election as counting in the first round wound to a finish Monday.

Calin Georgescu, a Romanian hard-right NATO critic, appeared in a dead heat with leftist Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu after the first round of presidential elections on Sunday, partial tallies showed,