Report: hefty data protection fine for Tiktok

According to a report by the business news agency Bloomberg, the Irish data protection supervisory authority DPC Ireland is preparing a multi-million euro fine against the Tiktok operator Bytedance: It is said to be at least 500 million euros because the company illegally transferred user data to the People's Republic of China.

Data transfer to China

There is currently no general legal basis for the transfer of personal data from the EU to China, unlike the Transatlantic Data Protection Framework (TADPF) with the USA, for example. In fact, China is considered to be excluded from such a regulation for the foreseeable future due to its national security laws, which allow the state extensive and almost uncontrolled access to data held by private companies.

The decision is expected to be delivered to the company in the coming weeks after a year-long process, reports Bloomberg. In February, the DPC shared the draft with the other supervisory authorities within the European Data Protection Board. The DPC is responsible for Bytedance under the General Data Protection Regulation, as the group has its European headquarters in Ireland.

TikTok owner prepared

According to Forbes, Bytedance had already set aside provisions of one billion US dollars for upcoming data protection penalties last year.

In 2023, the DPC had already imposed one of the highest fines under data protection law against the company to date, amounting to 345 million euros. At that time, it only related to the period between July and December 2020 and only to certain problems in connection with the protection of minors' data.

(mho)