Tiktok shot short in secure European data, more than a half billion euro fine

This article was last updated on May 2, 2025

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Tiktok shot short in secure European data, more than a half billion euro fine

Tiktok will receive a fine of more than half a billion euros for violating the European Privacy Act. The company has stored users data in China and could not show that the data there are just as well protected as in the European Union. That violation costs the company 485 million euros.

A fine of 45 million euros is added, because between 2020 and 2022 Tiktok made it not clear that data from users could end up in China. The total amount therefore comes to 530 million euros.

The popular video app has been under a magnifying glass for years when it comes to privacy and data storage, especially because the app is widely used by young children and teenagers. The app was made by a Chinese company. Critics point to the risks that Chinese authorities can demand access to user data.

Tiktok tells the NOS that the company intends to challenge the fine. The company says that it has never given European user data to the Chinese authorities and that they have never asked for it.

Dutch dates

Tap changed His privacy policy in December 2022, which made it clear that data from Europeans can be viewed by employees in China. The company pointed out, among other things, videos that are placed, but also private chats.

It is unclear whether data from Dutch users in the past have actually been on Chinese servers. According to the Irish privacy supervisor, who carried out the investigation and also imposed the fine, Tiktok said during the investigation that data from Europeans were not stored in China.

Last month the company announced that this was the case. That was due to a technical error, a tap spokesperson lets the NOS know. The company calls it a “myth” that European user data is stored in China.

Whether the news of today is changing something about the ticking behavior of young people is just the question. In 2022, when Tiktok made it clear for the first time that Chinese employees had access to data, students from a high school said against the NOS that it was no reason to stop the app:

Young people are disappointed data tapping with China, “but I can’t live without ‘

Tiktok remains a popular app in the Netherlands. According to research agency NewCom, the number of people who use the app daily rose to 3.2 million in the past year. In 2023 it was still 2.6 million Dutch people.

The company also grew worldwide in the past year, reported news agency Bloomberg last month. That yielded billions. The company would have made almost 29 billion euros in profit last year.

Tiktok moves data to Europe

To meet the privacy concerns, TIKTOK is busy moving all data from European users to data centers in Europe, the Tiktok spokesperson said. “The data of Dutch people have been stored in the US and Malaysia in recent months. We are transferring it to data centers in Ireland, Norway and Finland. That must have been completed this year.”

According to the spokesperson, it is all about all data from European users. That does not mean that non-European employees no longer have access to that. “They can use the data that we throw in a pile and where we get things that cannot be traceable to an individual for the further development of the app.”