Ireland fines TikTok over $600 million for transferring user data to China
The Irish privacy regulator has fined TikTok 530 million euros ($601.3 million) for transferring users' personal data to China, CNBC reports.
The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC), which oversees TikTok's privacy compliance in the EU, said TikTok violated the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Among the main complaints is the transfer of personal information of European users to TikTok employees in China without proper protection.
The regulator has given TikTok six months to bring its data processing into line with EU law, or the company will be banned from transferring data to China.
"TikTok's transfer of personal data to China breached the GDPR because TikTok failed to verify, ensure and demonstrate that the personal data of EEA users, which is accessed remotely by employees in China, has a level of protection essentially equivalent to that guaranteed in the EU," DPC Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle stressed.
It is also noted that TikTok did not properly assess the risks that Chinese authorities could access this data under local laws that differ significantly from European standards.
- On December 17, 2024, the European Commission announced that the EU was investigating TikTok's influence on the elections in Romania.
- On December 21, Albania banned TikTok for at least a year after the murder of a teenager.
- On December 31, Venezuela fined TikTok $10 million for a challenge that led to the deaths of children.