The European Union (EU) is preparing to fine TikTok 500 million euros for violating personal data protection regulations. This decision is being prepared by the Irish Data Protection Commission and is expected to be officially announced by the end of the month.
An investigation revealed that TikTok had transferred personal data of users from the EU to China, where employees of its parent company, ByteDance, had access to this information. This violates the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) applied within the European Union.
If the fine is confirmed, TikTok will face the third-largest fine in GDPR history, after fines imposed on Meta (€1.2 billion) and Amazon (€746 million). In addition to the financial penalty, European regulators also plan to ban TikTok from processing European users' data on Chinese territory.
This scandal comes at a time when ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, is also facing growing pressure in the United States. The U.S. government has given TikTok a deadline to sell its U.S. business. Amazon has shown interest in purchasing TikTok's U.S. operations and has already sent a letter to the White House regarding the matter.
This fine is seen as an indication of increasing regulatory pressure on TikTok and other technology companies regarding personal data protection.
