“TikTok fined 530 million euros by EU regulator over data protection”

…TikTok was fined 530 million euros ($600 million) by its lead EU privacy regulator on Friday over concerns on how it protects user information and was ordered to suspend data transfers to China if its processing is not brought into compliance within six months.

Ireland's Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) said TikTok, owned by China's ByteDance, failed to show that EU users' personal data, some of which is remotely accessed by staff in China, was afforded the high level of protection provided for under EU law.

As a result, the short-video platform did not address potential access by Chinese authorities to the data under counter-espionage and other laws …

TikTok said it strongly contested the finding and that it has used the EU's own legal framework, specifically so-called standard contractual clauses, to grant tightly controlled and limited remote access. It plans to appeal the ruling…

"This ruling risks setting a precedent with far-reaching consequences for companies and entire industries across Europe that operate on a global scale," TikTok said in a statement…

The powerful Irish privacy regulator…has also fined the likes of Microsoft's… LinkedIn, X and Meta … since it was given sanctioning powers in 2018…