TikTok fined over $552 mn for data transfer

TIKTOK OWNER BYTEDANCE is set to be hit by a privacy fine of more than €500 million ($552 million) for illegally shipping European users' data to China, adding to the growing global backlash over the video-sharing app.

- BLOOMBERG

Ireland's data protection commission, the company's main regulator in Europe, will issue the penalty against TikTok before the end of the month, according to people familiar with the matter.

The move comes after a lengthy investigation found the Chinese business fell foul of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation in sending the information to China to be accessed by engineers, added the people, who spoke under condition of anonymity.

The penalty is likely to be the third highest ever penalty under the GDPR following earlier fines of €1.2 billion against Facebook owner Meta Platforms and €746 million against Amazon, the people added.