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.

Ballots from the Romanian diaspora, which are not included in the main tally, showed a center-right politician in first place.

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,