The EU’s privacy regulators have taken a significant step against Beijing’s surveillance laws by issuing a ruling that could disrupt data flows between Europe and China. Ireland’s privacy regulator fined TikTok €530 million for transferring user data to China without ensuring its safety from government access. This decision marks a turning point in EU-China relations concerning data privacy. Joe Jones, a research director, noted that this is the first major enforcement action outside the EU-U.S. context. The ruling highlights the conflict between China’s surveillance laws and European data protection principles. TikTok has expressed disappointment and plans to challenge the decision, which gives it six months to comply or cease transferring EU data to China. The case raises questions about how companies can legally send data to China given the country’s broad surveillance laws.
— new from politico.eu