Irish Watchdog Probes TikTok Over China Data Transfers

TikTok has been in the firing line of various regulators for multiple reasons. More recently, TikTok’s practice of transferring personal data of EU users to servers in China raised eyebrows of the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC). In April, the DPC even issued a hefty fine of €530 million against TikTok for failing to protect user data during the transfer process. Now, the DPC has officially opened a probe into TikTok’s practice of transferring EU users’ data to China.

TikTok faces a new probe by the Irish watchdog over EU users’ data transfer to China

According to the DPC, TikTok had claimed that the transfers of EU users’ data took place remotely. The short-video platform also told the watchdog that the user data wasn’t stored on servers in China. However, that wasn’t the case. In February 2025, TikTok told the DPC that some data had been stored in China. The new information raised concerns as it contradicted the previous claims by TikTok.

The DPC has now confirmed that the new probe is the result of receiving inaccurate information from TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, regarding data transfer to China. The watchdog reportedly also consulted other national data protection authorities about the regulatory steps to take in this regard.

Now, the new probe will decide whether TikTok has complied with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Meanwhile, TikTok has provided a statement regarding data transfers to China. A company spokesperson said, “We promptly deleted this minimal amount of data from the servers and informed the DPC. Our proactive report to the DPC underscores our commitment to transparency and data security.“

The EU’s adequacy agreement doesn’t include China

Like many tech companies in the EU, TikTok also has its headquarters in Ireland. Another thing to note here is that the EU has something called adequacy agreements, which allow different regions to acknowledge each other’s data protection measures. The agreement includes several countries like the US, Switzerland, and Argentina. Here, the problem for TikTok is that the adequacy agreement doesn’t include China, where it allegedly transferred EU users’ data. Only time will tell what the DCP’s course of action will be in the matter.