PM Ciolacu deems banning TikTok in election campaign nonsense, injustice not to be righted with another injustice
Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), said on Wednesday that the proposal to ban TikTok in the presidential election campaign is 'nonsense' and that the Romanian state is now able to face a challenge similar to the November 2024 elections related to social networking sites.
Ciolacu was asked, on private broadcaster Antena 3, whether he agrees with the proposal of the Save Romania Union (USR) leader and the party's presidential candidate, Elena Lasconi, that TikTok be banned in the election campaign as there would be no guarantees that the irregularities that occurred in the November 2024 elections could take place again in May.
'Nonsense [banning TikTok in the campaign - editor's note]. You have to adapt first of all politically to them and the Romanian state should truly do its duty. (...) Things have settled down in the meantime. All candidates were somehow excluded from a certain algorithm, except for one, Calin Georgescu. Apart from him, all the candidates, in November, had that X crossed and you could not influence more. One candidate didn't. That moment has passed. In the meantime, the state institutions have created their software and have the capacity to manage things,' the prime minister said.
He mentioned that he is firmly convinced that at this moment the Romanian state is ready to face a challenge similar to that of the presidential elections of November 2024 related to social networks.
'You should not right an injustice by doing another injustice. These are basic things. You can't ban TikTok because someone found the context, with help, to use that tool. You have to find ways so that that tool can remain in a democratic area and in which another state does not have the ability to intervene. I repeat, I think that moment is over,' said Marcel Ciolacu.
The USR leader Elena Lasconi said on Sunday in Slatina that a decision could be made to close the Tik-Tok network before the presidential elections, 'as long as there is a risk of state and non-state influence'.
'If they are not able to assure us of that, I think it would be very good to close it at least before the presidential elections by a week or two and then remove the ban. Why am I saying this? Because incompetence brought us to the point where the Constitutional Court had to make this decision to annul the elections, to recount and to remove a candidate from the race. It is not normal for that to happen. (...) I am in favor of freedom of expression and democracy, but as long as there is a risk of state and non-state influence, as we have been told, I believe that we could make such a decision,' Elena Lasconi told a press conference. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Dana Piciu; EN - writing by: Simona Iacob)
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