TikTok fined $600 million after the illegal transfer of EU personal data to China—one of the largest fines ever imposed
Tiktok was hit by a massive EU fine of 530 million euros ($ 600 million) on Friday, accused of sending personal data to the European people in China and did not guarantee that it was protected from accessing Chinese authorities.
Chinese social media giant, also in the United States crosshairs, was identified during an investigation that it hosted European data in China, contrary to a previous refusal, according to the GO Ireland data protection guard guard.
One of the largest fines imposed by the authorities followed an investigation into the law of Tiktok's data transfers.
In 2023 the Data Protection Commission (DPC) of Ireland penalized Tiktok – with 1.5 billion users worldwide – 345 million euros for violations of European policies in child data processing.
Like Tiktok – a division of giant tech tech – has an European office headquarters in Ireland, Ireland's authority is the leading regulator in Europe for the social platform, as well as others such as Google, Meta and X.
“Tiktok has failed to verify, guarantee and show that the personal data of (European) users, which is noticed by staff in China, has been given a level of protection that is essentially equivalent to the Guaranteed within the EU,” said DPC Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle.
“Tiktok did not address the potential access of Chinese authorities to (Europe ') personal data under Chinese anti-terrorism, counter-espionage and other laws that Tiktok identified as material varying from EU standards,” Doyle said in a statement.
Tiktok said he planned to appeal to the EU fine, asserted that “never received a request” from Chinese authorities for European users' data.
“(Tiktok) has never provided European user data to them,” Christine Grahn of Tiktok Europe said. “We do not agree with this decision and intend to appeal in full.”
The giant social media has been in Western government crosshairs for years in fear of personal data can be used by China for spy or propaganda purposes.
US pressure
Tiktok also violated the requirements within the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by transferring user data to China, the DPC statement said.
The Friday's decision “includes administrative fines that cover 530 million euros and an order that requires a tiktok to bring its processing in compliance with six months,” he said.
Authorities said that 45 million euros of the fine was imposed due to a lack of transparency between 2020 and 2022 without the platform indicating to users which countries were transferred to the data or it could be accessible from China.
The DPC said its decision also included an order to suspend the transfer of Tiktok to China if the company does not meet the six -month deadline.
The fine is expected to increase pressure against social network in the United States.
The United States Congress passed a 2024 law that requires bytedance to break the control of the United States or banned from the country.
President Donald Trump has twice postponed twice, until June 19, the deadline set for the sale of the social network, with 170 million American users.
Multiple restrictions
Aside from the data issue, Tiktok was also accused of imprisoning its users in silos through a fuzzy and strong recommendation algorithm, provoking the spread of misinformation and illegal, violent, or obscene content.
Many countries have banned the platform for various seasons, such as Pakistan, Nepal, and France in the New Caledonia territory.
For years, Tiktok has highlights its data protection policies. In Europe, it launched the Clover Program, which provides 12 billion euros of investment in 10 years.
It says Europe's data is by default stored in Norway, Ireland, and the United States and “that employees in China have no access to restrictions data,” such as phone numbers or IP addresses.
The DPC, which opened its investigation in 2021, however, said Friday that it was informed in April by Tiktok that European data was stored, then removed, in China – contrary to what the firm had previously claimed.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
