TikTok Fined €530M, Faces US and EU Pressure

TikTok has been fined €530 million ($600 million) by Ireland's Data Protection Commission for unlawfully transferring and storing European user data in China, violating the EU's GDPR. The fine is the third-largest issued under the GDPR and reflects a global trend toward stricter data regulation. Investigators found TikTok failed to protect EU users' data to required standards and was not transparent about data transfers. TikTok admitted that limited European user data was stored in China, but denies sharing it with Chinese authorities and plans to appeal. The company has six months to comply with regulations or risk suspension of data transfers to China. Concurrently, TikTok faces similar regulatory scrutiny in the US, where it must divest from its Chinese parent ByteDance to avoid a nationwide ban.