TikTok faces fine over $553 million for illegally shipping EU data to China

By Samuel Stolton 

TikTok owner ByteDance Ltd. is set to be hit by a privacy fine of more than €500 million ($553 million) for illegally shipping European users’ data to China, adding to the growing global backlash over the video-sharing app.   

Ireland’s data protection commission, the company’s main regulator in Europe, will issue the penalty against TikTok before the end of the month, according to people familiar with the matter.  

The move comes after a lengthy investigation found the Chinese business fell foul of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation in sending the information to China to be accessed by engineers, added the people, who spoke under condition of anonymity.  

The penalty is likely to be the third highest ever dished out by the Irish watchdog following earlier fines of €746 million against Amazon.com Inc. and €1.2 billion against Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc., the people added. The exact size of TikTok’s fine and the timing of the decision isn’t final and could still change, they said. 

TikTok couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. The Irish data protection commission declined to comment. Under the GDPR, national agencies where foreign firms have their EU bases take the lead in policing the rules. The decision can be appealed by TikTok to the Irish courts. 

The impending fine comes as ByteDance faces an April 5 deadline to find a buyer for TikTok’s US operations or see the app banned in the country. Amazon.com Inc. became the latest big name to jump into the fray, submitting a bid to the White House to buy out a business once valued at $60 billion. Lesser-known AppLovin Corp. is also reportedly seeking backing for its own takeover bid. The pair lengthen an already eclectic list of potential owners of the app at the nexus of US-China tensions.  

As part of the decision from Ireland’s data protection commission, the regulator will order TikTok to suspend the unlawful data processing in China within a set timeframe. China has long provoked the ire of privacy activists, who claim that the nation’s mass surveillance regime violates fundamental rights. 

TikTok has been in the crosshairs of the Irish data protection commission before. In September 2023, it was fined €345 million for alleged lapses in the way it cares for children’s personal data. The watchdog has also sounded the alarm over Big Tech firms shipping the personal data of European citizens outside of the 27-member bloc, slapping a record €1.2 billion fine against Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc. for failing to protect personal information from the American security services.  

The Irish probe into TikTok started in 2021, when the regulator’s then head Helen Dixon claimed that EU user data could be accessed by “maintenance and AI engineers in China.”  

The Irish watchdog oversees many of the world’s biggest tech firms, including the activities of much of Silicon Valley due to its role as the industry’s gateway to the 27-nation EU.