In a significant enforcement of the European Union’s data protection laws, Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) has imposed a €530 million ($600 million) fine on TikTok. The penalty arises from the platform’s failure to ensure that European users’ personal data, accessed remotely by staff in China, received protection equivalent to EU standards.
The DPC’s investigation revealed that TikTok did not adequately address potential access by Chinese authorities to EU user data under China’s counter-espionage and other laws, which diverge from EU data protection norms. Furthermore, TikTok initially claimed that it did not store EU user data on Chinese servers. However, in February 2025, the company disclosed that a limited amount of such data had been stored in China, contradicting earlier statements.
As part of the ruling, TikTok has been given six months to bring its data processing activities into compliance with EU regulations. Failure to do so will result in the suspension of data transfers to China. The DPC is also considering additional regulatory actions in light of the recent findings.
TikTok, owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, has stated its intention to appeal the decision. The company contends that it employs the EU’s standard contractual clauses to regulate data transfers and has implemented robust data security measures since 2023. These measures include independent monitoring of remote access and the establishment of dedicated data centers in Europe and the United States. TikTok also emphasized that it has never received a request for EU user data from Chinese authorities and has never provided such data to them.
This is not the first time TikTok has faced scrutiny over data protection practices. In 2023, the DPC fined the platform €345 million for violations related to the processing of children’s personal data in the EU. The recent fine underscores the EU’s commitment to enforcing data protection standards and highlights the challenges global tech companies face in aligning with regional regulations.
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