Irish regulators have imposed a substantial fine on TikTok, the Beijing-owned video platform, requiring the company to pay $599 million. This penalty arises after it was discovered that TikTok unlawfully sent user data from Europe to China, breaching data protection laws of the European Union (EU), according to the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC).

Following a four-year investigation, the DPC concluded that TikTok had not implemented adequate safeguards when transferring European users’ data to China. Additionally, between 2020 and 2022, the platform did not disclose to its users that their data could be accessed by personnel in China.

“TikTok failed to verify, guarantee and demonstrate that the personal data of [European] users, remotely accessed by staff in China, was afforded a level of protection essentially equivalent to that guaranteed within the EU,” DPC deputy commissioner Graham Doyle said.

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