By Gavin Boyle
The EU’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) has imposed a $600 million fine on TikTok after its regulators found Europeans’ personal data was stored in China in a way that did not meet the EU’s data storage rules.
“As a result of TikTok’s failure to undertake the necessary assessments, TikTok did not address potential access by Chinese authorities to [European] personal data under Chinese anti-terrorism, counter-espionage, and other laws identified by TikTok as materially diverging from EU standards,” said the DPC Deputy Commissioner, Graham Doyle.
The fine came after TikTok disclosed that some data of European users had been stored on its Chinese servers, which do not have the same data protections as those in other parts of the world. The platform, however, believes the fine is excessive and plans to appeal the decision, especially given its efforts to create European data servers.
@rtenews TikTok has been fined €530m by the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) over the transfer of the personal data of European users to China. Throughout the investigation, TikTok told the DPC that it did not store European user data on servers located in China. TikTok has confirmed it plans to appeal the €530 million fine. 📲#rténews #tiktok #ireland #fyp #rte #news #irishnews
“The facts are that Project Clover has some of the most stringent data protections anywhere in the industry, including unprecedented independent oversight by NCC Group, a leading European cybersecurity firm,” said Christine Grahn, TikTok’s European head of public policy and government relations. “The decision fails to fully consider these considerable data security measures.”
TikTok has previously met with scrutiny for its data collection practices. In 2023, the platform faced intense questioning from the U.S. Congress as lawmakers began to question the app’s impact on national security. This questioning would ultimately serve as the basis for the ban which has remained in limbo since President Donald Trump took office.
Related: Should I Delete TikTok? Data Privacy Concerns Continue to Grow
“We have to trust that [all social media companies] are doing the right thing with the information and access we’ve provided them,” Peiter Zakto, Twitter’s former head of security, said in 2023. “We probably shouldn’t. And this comes down to a concern about the ultimate governance of these companies.”
“TikTok is only a product of the entire surveillance capitalism economy,” added researcher Pallaeon Lin. “And governments around the world are ignoring their duty to protect citizens’ private information, allowing big tech companies to exploit user information for gain.”
Despite these warnings, TikTok — and all other major tech companies — have been allowed to continue to amass the personal data of its users, but TikTok has placed a strong emphasis on storing this data outside of China. Along with its EU-based project Clover, it transitioned American data onto U.S. soil, and this data is now run on servers owned by Texas-based company Oracle.
Nonetheless, there continues to be a strong skepticism of TikTok as many remain vigilant against the Chinese-based company sharing data with the government it is under.
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