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[Alpha Biz= Paul Lee] TikTok is under renewed scrutiny from European Union regulators over concerns regarding the storage of user data on servers located in China.



On July 10 (local time), Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) announced it has launched a new investigation into whether TikTok transferred personal data of users in the European Economic Area (EEA) to servers in China, in possible violation of EU data protection laws.



Ireland serves as the EU headquarters for many major tech companies, making the DPC the lead authority in assessing their compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).



The DPC had previously investigated TikTok over similar issues and, in May, concluded that the company had violated certain GDPR provisions. As a result, TikTok was fined €530 million (approximately KRW 850 billion)—one of the largest penalties ever imposed under the GDPR.



At the time, TikTok claimed that any data transfers to China occurred only remotely and that no data was stored on Chinese servers. However, the company later admitted in February that it had discovered some data had indeed been stored in China, and formally notified the DPC of this finding in April.



Following a review of the new information, the DPC has decided that additional investigation is warranted. The regulator stated that the new inquiry aims to determine whether TikTok has complied with its GDPR obligations in relation to the cross-border transfer and storage of user data.

 

 

 

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