CCP Seminar: Regulating Social Media and Elections in the European Union – Adriana Mutu

The Centre for Competition Policy (CCP) will host this week’s Research Seminar featuring Adriana Mutu, who will present “Regulating Social Media and Elections in the European Union: Legal Frameworks, Platform Governance, and Electoral Integrity”

The seminar is open to the public and can be attended live by anyone interested.

Register here: https://lnkd.in/eKs7k-f8

The presentation offers a structured assessment of how European Union Member States regulate social media platforms during electoral periods to mitigate risks related to electoral manipulation, disinformation, and Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI). It maps the interaction between key EU instruments—including the GDPR, Digital Services Act (DSA), Digital Markets Act (DMA), Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD), e-Privacy Directive, Regulation on the Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising (TTPA), and the Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA)—and national regulatory approaches.

The seminar will also discuss the case of the annulled presidential elections in Romania (December 2024), invalidated by the Constitutional Court of Romania following evidence of foreign interference and algorithmic manipulation via social media networks. This case triggered the first major DSA infringement proceedings against TikTok, providing a critical test for EU platform governance and electoral integrity.

The Centre for Competition Policy (CCP)

Based at the University of East Anglia, the Centre for Competition Policy is the UK’s world-leading inter-disciplinary centre focused on competition, regulation and consumer policy.

The Centre is supported by the School of Economics, UEA Law School, Norwich Business School and the School of Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication Studies

The Centre has close links with, but is independent of, a wide range of regulatory authorities, government bodies and private sector practitioners. These include the European Commission, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Ofgem, Ofcom, Ofwat, the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR), the World Bank, and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).