TikTok faces €500 million fine for illegally shipping European user data to China - report

TikTok’s parent company ByteDance is reportedly set to be hit with a fine of over €500 million for illegally shipping European user data to China. 

The privacy fine will be issued by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (Irish DPC), according to Bloomberg, citing sources familiar with the matter.

The report said that the fine is a result of an investigation that found Europe’s privacy rules were breached as data was sent to China to be assessed by engineers, breaking the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). 

The DPC, TikTok's main regulator in Europe, is likely to impose the penalty before the end of April, Bloomberg said.

TikTok can choose to appeal this decision in Irish courts.

The fine could be one of the largest handed down by the Irish DPC, after fines of €746 million against Amazon in 2021 and €1.2 billion against Meta in 2023.

The fine comes as TikTok’s owner is trying to find a buyer for TikTok's US operations by April 5 and could face a ban if it does not. 

Euronews Next has reached out to TikTok and the Irish DPC for comment.

The Irish DPC responded saying it was not in a position to comment at this time.