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 hard-right critic of NATO who has praised Russia is set to face a centre-right opposition leader in a presidential election run-off in Romania that could undermine its pro-Western stance after a shock outcome in the first-round vote.

The leaders of both parties in Romania's ruling coalition, the leftist Social Democrats (PSD) and the centre-right Liberal Party (PNL), failed to make the second round, an unprecedented defeat as voters shunned establishment parties.

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

A hard-right critic of NATO who has praised Russia is set to face a center-right opposition leader in a presidential election runoff in Romania that could undermine its pro-Western stance after a shock outcome in the first-round vote.

A Romanian hard-right NATO critic and leftist Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu appeared in dead heat after the first round of presidential elections on Sunday, partial tallies showed, in a shock result threatening Romania's staunchly pro-Ukraine stance.

A controversial right-wing populist TikTok star is leading in polls to be the next Romanian president, with views that could spell trouble for NATO and support for Ukraine. Romania witnessed the greatest electoral upset since emerging from communist rule in 1989 on Sunday,