In this edition, we look at whether TikTok algorithms could have influenced the Romanian presidential election and ask whether Europe should ban social media for under-16s.
ADVERTISEMENTOur guests are Petros Fassoulas, Secretary General of the European Movement, TikTok influencer Soundous Boualam and Robert Taylor from New Direction.
The panel reflected on the rise of TikTok over the past few years.
In the first round of the presidential elections in Romania two weeks ago, there was Călin Georgescu, an unknown populist, which caused many reflections on the role of social network algorithms.
Rival candidate Elena Lasconi said Russian bots were responsible for TikTok’s rise, although TikTok itself called the reports inaccurate and misleading.
Soundous Boualam, who has millions of likes on TikTok every day, remains a big supporter of the platform.
“TikTok promotes good content,” she told the panel, adding that users like Georgescu are so popular because they “master the art of TikTok and what you call ‘being Western-friendly’.”
“Why don’t we here in the EU have more progressive politicians who also take TikTok seriously and put effort into it, to increase their popularity and ideas?” she asked.
But Robert Taylor issued a stark warning about the app, owned by Chinese company ByteDance.
“It is a platform designed to promote anti-Western disinformation,” he said.
The panel also discussed how social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, has transformed since being bought by Elon Musk, and how many are moving to rival network Bluesky.
“What’s happening right now is that a lot of pro-European forces are leaving X, but then that gives more space to these far-right populists, people to spread their views. So then we leave people even more vulnerable to the misinformation that exists,” said Boualam.
Other panelists expressed concern about people who prefer to stay in their comfort zones, listening only to what they want to hear.
“The problem is, like what happened in television and radio, you create these echo chambers,” Taylor said.
Watch “Brussels, Love?” on the player above.
