Popular short-video platform TikTok has been hit with a hefty fine of €530 million ($602 million) for transferring Europeans' personal data to China.

On behalf of the European Union, the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) said on Friday that the app, which is used by 1.5 billion people around the world, had breached the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

TikTok is the subsidiary of the Chinese tech giant ByteDance. But because it has its European headquarters in Ireland, the DPC is the lead regulator in the EU for the social platform, as well as for other tech giants with European headquarters in Ireland, such as Amazon, Google, and Meta and X.

The fine is the second largest ever imposed by the EU. In 2023, Ireland's data protection watchdog already fined TikTok €345 million for violating European rules on processing children's data.

What is TikTok accused of?

During the investigation, the social media giant said it did not host user data from Europe on servers in China, but admitted in April that it had done so to a limited extent, the Irish data protection watchdog said.

"TikTok failed to verify, guarantee and demonstrate that the personal data of (European) users, remotely accessed by staff in China, was afforded a level of protection essentially equivalent to that guaranteed within the EU," said DPC deputy commissioner Graham Doyle.

"TikTok did not address potential access by Chinese authorities to (Europeans') personal data under Chinese anti-terrorism, counter-espionage and other laws identified by TikTok as materially diverging from EU standards," he added in a statement.

For its part, TikTok said it planned to appeal the EU fine. The company insisted that it had "never received a request" from Chinese authorities for European users' data.

TikTok's problems around the world

TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, is based in China, but the app's representatives have repeatedly stressed that ByteDance is majority-owned by international investors. Still, ByteDance must comply with Chinese authorities through its Beijing headquarters.

Several countries have banned the platform for varying periods of time, including Pakistan, Nepal and the French territory of New Caledonia.

The company has already come under fire in the United States, where experts fear it could allow Americans' data to fall into the hands of the Chinese government.

Former President Joe Biden signed a law a year ago requiring ByteDance to divest its US operations or face a ban. His successor, President Donald Trump, has repeatedly extended the deadline for the app's sale.

Edited by: Zac Crellin