TikTok Slapped With RM2.5 Billion Fine, Denies Sending Data To China
The platform was fined for violating a European Union data privacy law.
Cover image via TikTok has been hit with a hefty USD600 million (RM2.5 billion) fine for breaching a European Union data privacy law
The penalty, announced by Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) on 1 May, was issued after TikTok was found to have sent user data to China without sufficient safeguards under the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
The DPC has given TikTok, which is owned by ByteDance, six months to bring its data handling practices into compliance with EU law.
This may be the biggest fine issued under the regulation to date
The core issue was TikTok's failure to assure the DPC that European users' data, once transferred to China, would be protected at a level equivalent to EU standards.
Of the total fine, a significant USD551 million (RM2.3 billion) was tied specifically to this unlawful data transfer. The rest was linked to TikTok's privacy policy, which failed to adequately explain to users why these data transfers to China were happening in the first place.
In response, TikTok issued a statement to appeal the decision
"We have never received a request for European user data from the Chinese authorities, and have never provided European user data to them.
"This ruling risks setting a precedent with far-reaching consequences for companies and entire industries across Europe that operate on a global scale," the company said.
This comes as TikTok faces a potential ban in the US
According to a legislation signed by former US President Joe Biden, ByteDance must sell off its shares of the video app to a non-Chinese company before the deadline, or it will not be allowed to operate inside the US.
The deadline for ByteDance to sell its shares of TikTok to a non-Chinese company, as mandated by US law, has been extended multiple times. Initially set for 19 January, an order signed the following day pushed it to 5 April. Just a day before that second deadline, another extension was granted, moving the final date to 18 June.
