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 examine “the processing of personal data… for users under age 18, and age verification measures for persons under 13”. It will also look into the transparency of TikTok when processing such data.
This is not the first the Irish DPC has investigated such matters. In October 2020, it announced it was looking into Instagram’s handling of children’s personal data.
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”, said the DPC.
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 denies.
