DUBLIN (digitalwealthpath2025) – TikTok has been hit with a fine of €530 million ($600 million) by its primary European Union privacy watchdog this Friday due to worries about their handling of user data protection. The company has also been instructed to halt all data transmissions to China unless they rectify their practices within half a year.
The Ireland's Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) stated that TikTok, operated by China-based company ByteDance, did not demonstrate adequate measures ensuring that the personal information of European Union users, including data accessible from employees based in China, received the stringent protections mandated by EU regulations.
Consequently, the short-video platform failed to tackle possible access by Chinese authorities to the data under espionage and other regulations highlighted by TikTok as significantly differing from EU standards, according to a statement released by the DPC.
TikTok stated that it firmly disputed the findings and noted that it had utilized the European Union’s legal framework, particularly what are known as standard contractual clauses, to provide carefully restricted and minimal remote access. The company intends to challenge this decision through an appeal.
The statement also noted that this choice does not adequately take into account the data protection policies introduced in 2023, which separately track external access and guarantee that European Union user information is kept within specific data centers located both in Europe and the United States.
TikTok, which has experienced rapid growth among teens globally in recent years and boasts 175 million users across Europe, stated that it has never been asked by Chinese authorities for data related to European Union users nor has it ever shared such information with them.
TikTok stated that this decision could establish a precedent with significant implications for businesses and whole sectors throughout Europe that function globally.
The DPC also found that while TikTok said throughout the four-year inquiry that it did not store EU user data on servers in China, it disclosed last month that it discovered in February that a limited amount was stored in China and since deleted.
"The DPC views these recent developments with significant seriousness. We are contemplating what additional regulatory measures might be necessary," stated DPC Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle.
It is the second time TikTok has been reprimanded by the DPC. It was fined 345 million euros in 2023 for breaching privacy laws regarding the processing of children's personal data in the EU.
The influential Irish data protection authority, which serves as the primary watchdog in the EU for numerous major global technology companies because these entities have their regional offices situated in Ireland, has imposed penalties on corporations such as Microsoft’s, X, and Meta since being granted the ability to impose fines back in 2018.
According to the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which extends to include Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway as part of the European Economic Area, supervisory authorities have the power to levy fines amounting to up to 4% of a company’s total worldwide earnings.
($1 = 0.8827 euros)
(Reporting by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Susan Fenton)
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