- TikTok has been fined €530 million for illegally sending Europeans’ information to China
- TikTok now has six months to carry its information processing into compliance or droop any transfers to China
- TikTok has rejected the EU information regulator’s resolution and plans to enchantment in complete
The Irish EU Data Protection Commission (DPC) has fined TikTok a complete of €530 million (the an identical of somewhat greater than $600 million) for illegally sending Europeans’ information to China, the place its father or mother corporate, ByteDance, is based totally.
Specifically, TikTok used to be present in breach of 2 articles of the EU information coverage regulation, GDPR, for no longer pleasurable its responsibilities relating to information transfers to China and transparency. The video streaming app now has six months to carry its information processing into compliance or droop any transfers to China.
TikTok has firmly rejected the knowledge regulator’s resolution and plans to enchantment in complete.
TikTok vs the EU
As the DPC Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle highlights in an respectable remark, the GDPR calls for that the top degree of coverage supplied throughout the European Union continues the place private information is transferred to different international locations. That’s one thing TikTok turns out to have did not do.
“TikTok’s personal data transfers to China infringed the GDPR because TikTok failed to verify, guarantee, and demonstrate that the personal data of EEA users, remotely accessed by staff in China, was afforded a level of protection essentially equivalent to that guaranteed within the EU,” stated Doyle.
Specifically, the EU information watchdog discovered TikTok to have breached two GDPR articles: Article 46(1), which regulates its transfers of EEA User Data to China, and its transparency responsibilities dominated through Article 13(1)(f). The DPC then issued two administrative fines of €485 million and €45 million, respectively.
Such a failure to satisfy GDPR necessities, Doyle famous, did not permit the video streaming platform to handle possible get right of entry to through Chinese government to EEA private information beneath Chinese anti-terrorism, counter-espionage, and different regulations.
The downside for TikTok won’t finish right here, although.
TikTok used to be additionally discovered accountable of giving the DPC misguided details about the place Europeans’ information the place saved. The corporate first ensured those weren’t saved on servers based totally in China. Yet, this allegation used to be then contradicted in April 2025 when TikTok admitted to having came upon in February 2025 some restricted EEA consumer information on Chinese servers. The DPC is about to post a call in this topic sooner or later.
Commenting in this level, Doyle stated: “Whilst TikTok has informed the DPC that the data has now been deleted, we are considering what further regulatory action may be warranted, in consultation with our peer EU Data Protection Authorities.”
TikTok stated to disagree with the DPC resolution and be in a position to enchantment all fees.
“The decision fails to fully consider Project Clover, our €12 billion industry-leading data security initiative that includes some of the most stringent data protections anywhere. It instead focuses on a select period from years ago, prior to Clover’s 2023 implementation and does not reflect the safeguards now in place,” stated Christine Grahn, TikTok’s Head of Public Policy & Government Relations for Europe, in an respectable remark.
This is not, then again, the primary time TikTok has been fined in Europe for breaching information coverage regulation. In 2023, the DPC issued a €345 million positive in opposition to TikTok for violating youngsters’s privateness.
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