TikTok has been fined €530 million by the leading EU data protection regulator due to concerns regarding user information security.

This was reported by Reuters.

The company has been ordered to halt data transfers to China unless compliance is achieved within six months.

The Irish Data Protection Commissioner stated that TikTok, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, failed to demonstrate that the personal data of EU users, which can be accessed remotely by employees in China, is adequately protected under EU law.

Thus, the short video platform has not addressed the issue of potential access by Chinese authorities to data, which TikTok has categorized as significantly differing from EU standards, as per the DPC's statement.

TikTok claimed it will vigorously contest this ruling, asserting that it has relied on its own EU legal framework, including so-called standard contractual clauses, to ensure strictly controlled and limited remote access. The company plans to appeal this decision.

Additionally, the company stated that the ruling does not fully consider the data security measures implemented in 2023, which include independent monitoring of remote access and guarantee that EU user data is stored in specialized data processing centers in Europe and the USA.