European fine of more than half a billion for TIKTOK due to steering data to China

European privacy watch dogs have imposed a fine of 530 million euros, after a four -year study has shown that Bytedance, the Chinese parent company of the popular film app, sends personal data from users to China. That has Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC), which led the investigation into Tiktok, announced on Friday.

Tiktok collects a lot of personal data from its now nearly 1.5 billion users. According to European Privacy Rules (AVG), this type of data may only be sent to countries outside the so -called European Economic Area (EEA), which, in addition to Member States of the European Union, also includes Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland, if there are just as strict rules regarding privacy as within the EEA itself.

‘Increased spyer risk’

The Irish privacy watchdog now concludes that Tiktok does not comply with that. Graham Doyle, Deputy Commissioner of the DPC: « Tiktok (…) was unable to demonstrate that the personal data of (European) users, to which staff in China have remotely access, enjoy a protection level that is equivalent to protection within the EU. » Tiktok must ensure within six months that it does adhere to the rules to prevent further consequences.

Doyle emphasizes that European data may possibly be acquired by the Chinese government through the Tiktok policy, for example in the context of Chinese anti-terrorism or counterpionage legislation.

According to the latest figures, Tiktok has around 175 million users in Europe. In the Netherlands, the app is also popular with 4 million users, especially among young people.

In a response Tiktok writes that the company does not agree with the fine and that it will appeal against the decision. Employees have « never received a request from the Chinese authorities to (share) European user data, and such data has never been provided to them ». According to the statement, the investigation does not take enough into account the new ‘data security approach’ that Tiktok has applied since 2023.

There have long been concerning the safety of Tiktok users for Chinese espionage. In 2023, the Dutch Intelligence Service AIVD already warned of an « increased spy risk » on which the government encouraged government officials to remove the app.