Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Thursday, Sep 11, 2025

TikTok faces privacy investigations by EU watchdog

TikTok faces privacy investigations by EU watchdog

TikTok is under investigation by The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) - its lead regulator in the EU - over two privacy-related issues.

The watchdog is looking into its processing of children's personal data, and whether TikTok is in line with EU laws about transferring personal data to other countries, such as China.

TikTok said privacy was "our highest priority".

The Irish DPC said it was specifically looking into GDPR-related issues.

These are the EU privacy laws which can potentially lead to enormous fines of up to 4% of a company's global turnover.

It said the first inquiry would examine "the processing of personal data... for users under age 18, and age verification measures for persons under 13". It will also look into how transparent TikTok has been about how it processes such data.

It is not the first time the Irish DPC has investigated such matters. In October 2020, it announced it was looking into Instagram's handling of children's personal data.

And Tiktok has already faced a similar collective legal action in the UK, spearheaded by a former children's commissioner.

The second investigation announced this week is a more uniquely TikTok problem.

It is around "transfers by TikTok of personal data to China", the DPC said. TikTok is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, and has repeatedly faced accusations that it shares data with Chinese companies - or even the Chinese government, something the firm strenuously denies.

During Donald Trump's presidency, it was nearly banned in the US - although that order has since been dropped.

The DPC's investigation is more tightly concerned with whether TikTok is obeying EU rules on transfers of data to so-called "third countries" - places to which the EU has not given a seal of approval over their privacy laws.

TikTok has already made a series of changes to its systems to fend off both allegations.

In January, it made all under-16s' accounts private by default, as part of a bid to improve child safety on the platform.

It followed that up in July by deleting millions of accounts which it said belonged to under-13s, who are not supposed to be allowed on the platform at all.

And in August, it announced it would no longer send push notifications to children's accounts during certain times of the day, saying it was designed to help children study, relax, and sleep.

In a statement, TikTok said: "We've implemented extensive policies and controls to safeguard user data and rely on approved methods for data being transferred from Europe, such as standard contractual clauses. We intend to fully co-operate with the DPC."

The Irish data commissioner takes a lead role in regulating many of the world's largest tech firms, as the European headquarters of companies such as TikTok, Facebook, and Google are all based in Ireland.

However, it has been accused by some of having a lax approach to enforcement.

For example, it recently handed WhatsApp the second-largest GDPR fine on record, of €225m (£193m).

It initially recommended a much smaller fine of €30m-50m, but faced objections from the data watchdogs of several other EU states. The disagreement eventually went before a formal EU board, which told the Irish DPC to change its finding and issue a higher fine.

Max Schrems, a well-known privacy advocate and established critic of the Irish regulator, said at the time that incident "shows how the DPC is still extremely dysfunctional".


WATCH: What is GDPR?


Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
High-Stakes Trump-Putin Summit on Ukraine Underway in Alaska
Iranian Protection Offers Chinese Vehicle Shipments a Cost Advantage over Japanese and Korean Makers
Saudi Arabia accelerates renewables to curb domestic oil use
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez announce engagement
Asia-Pacific dominates world’s busiest flight routes, with South Korea’s Jeju–Seoul corridor leading global rankings
Private Welsh island with 19th-century fort listed for sale at over £3 million
Sam Altman challenges Elon Musk with plans for Neuralink rival
Australia to Recognize the State of Palestine at UN Assembly
The Collapse of the Programmer Dream: AI Experts Now the Real High-Earners
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
BP’s Largest Oil and Gas Find in 25 Years Uncovered Offshore Brazil
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
×