The European Commission announced Tuesday that it is launching a formal investigation into TikTok for allegedly failing to limit election meddling, particularly in November's Romanian presidential election.

After Calin Georgescu, an independent candidate and TikTok influencer, unexpectedly won the first round of the Romanian presidential election, Romanian authorities called for an investigation into TikTok to understand its role in the election.

Earlier this month, Romania's Constitutional Court canceled the results of the first round of the presidential election.

In light of this, the EU believes that there is a risk of interference in the Croatian presidential election, which begins on December 29, and the elections for the German parliament next February.

This is the third investigation launched by the EU against TikTok under the Digital Services Act, and it has ordered TikTok to freeze data related to the Romanian elections.

The probe will focus on TikTok's recommendation system that uses data to predict what users will watch, the risks associated with utilizing the service, and TikTok's policies on political advertising and paid political content.

In response, TikTok emphasized that the platform has remained impartial in more than 150 elections around the world and has provided the EU with numerous messages about its efforts.

The social media company said it does not accept paid political advertisements and proactively removes content that violates its policies on false messaging and hate speech.