China has denied requiring companies to hand over data, following TikTok’s significant fine for its handling of Europeans’ personal information.
The social media giant was fined €530 million on Friday for transferring user data from Europe to China without ensuring protection against access by Chinese authorities.
The fine was issued by the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC), acting on behalf of the EU, since TikTok’s European headquarters, like many tech giants, is located in Ireland.
The DPC concluded that the Chinese platform failed to demonstrate that Europeans’ personal data, accessible remotely by its staff in China, had a protection level equal to that in the European Union.
TikTok has announced plans to appeal the decision.
Following the fine, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated on Saturday that Beijing “has never required and will never require companies or individuals to collect or store data through illegal means.” The ministry also urged the EU and Ireland to “provide a fair, equitable, and non-discriminatory business environment for companies from all countries.”
TikTok is a division of the Chinese tech company ByteDance. The company has been scrutinised in numerous countries due to concerns that the Chinese government might access user data and that the platform could facilitate the spread of misinformation.
