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Irish Examiner
4 days ago
- Business
- Irish Examiner
TikTok sues Ireland's data protection watchdog over €530m penalty from regulator
Tech giant TikTok has sued the Data Protection Commission in objection to a massive €530m penalty it received from the regulator earlier this month. The social media company lodged papers in the High Court on Tuesday for a judicial review against the DPC. Neither TikTok nor the DPC had responded to a request for comment at the time of publication. A judicial review relates to the courts reviewing the correctness or otherwise in law of a decision made by an organ of the State, be it a Government Department or a semi-state agency. The suit is understood to relate directly to the DPC's decision to hand the enormous fine to TikTok over the transfer of users' personal data from Europe to China. Issuing that decision on May 2, the DPC told the Chinese-owned firm that it had breached Europe's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) over the transfer of data to China and its own transparency requirements. The DPC said at the time that the fine — the second largest issued under GDPR in the DPC's history — had resulted from the company having 'failed to verify, guarantee and demonstrate that the personal data of European Economic Area users, remotely accessed by staff in China, was afforded a level of protection essentially equivalent to that guaranteed within the EU'. 'As a result of TikTok's failure to undertake the necessary assessments, TikTok did not address potential access by Chinese authorities to EEA personal data under Chinese anti-terrorism, counter-espionage and other laws identified by TikTok as materially diverging from EU standards,' the DPC's deputy commissioner Graham Doyle said at the time. The administrative fine of €530m was accompanied by a direction requiring TikTok to bring its processing into compliance within six months. The company was also ordered to suspend transfers to China if the way it processes data is not brought into compliance over the same timeframe. Throughout the inquiry into TikTok the DPC had said that the company had maintained that it did not store data from users in the European Economic Area on servers located in China. In April, however, TikTok informed the DPC that it had discovered 'limited' European data had been stored on servers in China. The company said it had identified this in February. TikTok informed the DPC that this discovery 'meant that TikTok had provided inaccurate information to the inquiry'. Earlier this month the DPC said that it is taking recent developments regarding the storage of EEA User Data on servers in China 'very seriously'. 'Whilst TikTok has informed the DPC that the data has now been deleted, we are considering what further regulatory action may be warranted, in consultation with our peer EU Data Protection Authorities,' Mr Doyle said at the time. In 2023, the Commission fined TikTok €345m after an investigation into how the platform processed children's data. Read More Limerick-based Carelon Global Solutions to close with loss of 300 jobs
Irish Independent
4 days ago
- Business
- Irish Independent
Section 481 film tax credit gets an 8pc uplift
Media Minister Patrick O'Donovan and Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe jointly launched an enhanced Section 481 tax credit for mid- to lower-budget feature films. The change was signalled in last year's Budget, and the official announcement was due to be made two weeks ago. It was postponed following US president Donald Trump's threat to put a 100pc tariff on movies produced outside America. Mr Trump claimed Hollywood is dying a 'very fast death' due to other countries offering 'all kinds of incentives to draw our filmmakers away'. In a post on Truth Social, he added: 'WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!' Government sources told the Irish Independent earlier this month that the official unveiling of the improvement to the Irish film tax credit was postponed as a result. It was decided that a launch just after Mr Trump's tariff threat would have sent the wrong signal to the US administration. The improvements to the Section 481 scheme will be backdated, so that film-makers applying for the tax credit do not lose out as a result of the postponement. Branded as 'Scéál', the scheme is an 8pc uplift to the existing 32pc tax incentive, bringing it to a total of 40pc. It will be available to feature films with a budget of less than €20m. At least one of the key creative roles – director, screenwriter, composer, editor, cinematographer and production designer – must be taken by a native or resident of the European Economic Area. In animated feature films, the key creative roles include art director, composer and production designer. Another condition of the tax break is that the film must be intended for exhibition at a commercial cinema in Ireland for at least five days. The ministers said the aim of the uplift is to encourage and support smaller-scale Irish cinema, providing opportunities for film creatives based in Ireland as they build their careers. Mr Donohoe said: 'The Scéal uplift is a fantastic addition to our already globally recognised Section 481 film tax credit. The uplift will be of great benefit to our smaller indigenous productions, the type that portray Irish stories on screen and project them all over the world.' The Government also intends to provide a tax break for unscripted productions, which include reality shows, chat shows and other light-entertainment programmes that are often filmed before a live studio audience. This means the likes of The Late Late Show on RTÉ could qualify. The Department of Finance has notified the new relief to the European Commission, whose officials are now examining whether it complies with EU rules on state aid.
New European
4 days ago
- Business
- New European
Letters: Resounding silence greets Starmer's reset
Why not put a referendum on joining the European Economic Area (and therefore the single market) as a pledge for the next manifesto? Joanna Roland Re: 'A new start… and the same old lies' by Jonty Bloom (TNE #436). I hope Keir Starmer is encouraged by the right's response to his Brexit reset agreements with the EU. Lacklustre from Kemi Badenoch, absurd from Boris Johnson and Mark Francois – and Nigel Farage took himself off on holiday rather than get involved. Jonty Bloom is right – this is a pragmatic attempt to restore trade relations with our nearest and most important trading partners after a near decade of damaging disruption from a hard Brexit that the OBR (Office for Budget Responsibility) calculates has cost the UK £32bn a year. In that context, the forecast boost to the economy of £9bn by 2040 looks modest, but this deal and the UK's commitment to dynamic alignment hopefully sets us on the right course to single market status, or even re-integration itself, when the political climate allows. Paul Dolan Northwich, Cheshire It is always an immense pleasure to watch Brexiteers melt down on X and GB News whenever the letters E and U are mentioned together. Maybe one day they will understand the value of compromise and win/win, and that this is not the definition of betrayal. Guy Masters The reset deal is welcome. As for Brexit itself, as my grandad used to say: no matter how much polish, time and elbow grease you put in, the simple fact is you can't polish a turd! Christopher Harrison One important aspect missed by Ros Taylor in her fascinating article on Brexit and fishing ('Bone of contention', TNE #436) is the lack of government action over decades to help coastal communities transition away from fishing, in much the same way as former industrial areas have been left to fend for themselves in the post-industrial economy. Margaret Thatcher, of course, was the culprit-in-chief with her conviction that the state must not interfere with the free market. The real culprit is decades of underinvestment. If Lowestoft and Grimsby had been helped to diversify into other industries and were now thriving towns, I doubt fishing rights would be much of an issue. Mark Grahame Biden's advisers failed In his review of Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson's book about Joe Biden's disastrous second bid for the US presidency (TNE #436), Matthew d'Ancona rightly amplifies the argument that covering up Biden's cognitive decline was an egregious error with terrible consequences. However, the responsibility for this error lies entirely with Biden's circle of advisers, not with the man himself. While it may be tempting to blame Biden's ego, this rests on a misunderstanding of dementia. It doesn't just make people forgetful or confused about immediate circumstances. It affects all aspects of personality and judgment. It's typical for dementia sufferers to be unable to grasp what's happening to them. This is an uncomfortable and scary situation at the best of times – but when the sufferer is the leader of the free world, the risks are obviously much broader in scope than those affecting the average pensioner. Biden's advisers found themselves in an unenviable position – but they had an overwhelming responsibility, for everyone's sake, to find ways to address what was happening honestly at a much earlier stage than they did. Eleanor Toye Scott Cambridge Biden was on the side of the angels for several very good reasons. He genuinely cared about 'ordinary' people, he beat the crap out of Trump in 2020, and he and Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer got some seriously good legislation through Congress despite wafer-thin majorities in the House and Senate. He (or his administration) also got the US out of Covid in good order and left the odious Trump administration an economy in very good order. The only thing I would hold against him was his inability to rein in Benjamin Netanyahu in Gaza. Biden firing on one brain cell would be better for the US and the world than Trump and his Project 2025 freakshow. David Webb Conforming to type I most certainly would not bet against David Roberts's prediction of a Conservative-Reform merger (Letters, TNE #436). Mulling it over, I also predict a name change, to Conform Party, and a Tory continuation rump party until a really embarrassing by-election loss finishes them: think the SDP's loss to the Monster Raving Loony Party, Bootle 1990. Then, with far right parties across Europe in the ascendant and teetering on the brink of EU control, it will be none other than Nigel Farage who promises a glorious future if we rejoin the EU and consequently, he secures a general election win in 2034. Finally, we then have to endure years of a hard left party agitating to take us back out. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose! Robert Boston Kingshill, Kent The Tories have been a major force in British politics since about 1690 (the exact date is disputed). They won elections by adjusting their sails to take advantage of any wind changes. Some called this cynical. Others called it realistic. I would never have expected the Tories to wreck themselves over an idiotic point of principle (Brexit). Is this what David Cameron meant when he described the Tory Party membership as 'swivel-eyed loons'? Don Adamson Bradford, West Yorkshire Fuel for thought Good to see a reversal of the winter fuel allowance cut in the offing (Alastair Campbell's Diary, TNE #436). It was always a mad policy, as it attracted deep criticism while raising very little. The big problem, though, is that wherever you draw the new line, how on earth do you identify the individuals who qualify? Currently it's easy but if, say, you put the line at £25,000, how do you implement payment to individuals whose income is below that line? I don't think HMRC can help. Pensioners at that level of income hardly ever complete tax returns. Tony Slater Bristol Far from unloved It was good to see two pieces in TNE #436 by Marie Le Conte – except both of them were about different ways she had been made to feel unloved and unwanted. Please be reassured that your readers, here and elsewhere, still love you! Keep up the good work. Tony Jones I felt shame and despair reading Marie Le Conte's Dilettante column in TNE #436. Keir Starmer's 'island of strangers' comment makes no sense. Most of us live in cities surrounded by strangers. Worse are his quotes 'Britain had become a one-nation experiment in open borders' and 'the damage this has done is incalculable'. Are these really the words of a leader of the Labour Party? The first statement is questionable in every word. The second seems not to be backed up by the available statistics. Why not attempt to calculate the incalculable and set out the facts plainly so we can decide ourselves? I still hope good sense will prevail. Thank you for continuing to publish your interesting and thought-provoking paper. Rosemary Brown Marie Le Conte's characterisation of the dismal no-man's-land in which she finds herself rings depressingly true. But can I assure her that the mindset and values that she espouses aren't confined to those in the age range, income brackets and locations she describes. We are everywhere: old and young, better and worse off, rural and urban. What really prevents us from making common cause is the antediluvian voting system for UK elections. That is what drives so much of the political positioning that she rightly decries. A system that seriously tried to give equal weight to everyone's preferences would be a massive step towards a truly enfranchised population and more grown-up politics. Above all, it would offer new hope – at virtually no cost. John Thomson Castle Douglas, Dumfries and Galloway Marie Le Conte is most definitely welcome in Britain. If a person of such charm, wit, and compassion isn't welcome here, then I'm off too. RSP Zatzen To counteract the threat of Reform (Letters, TNE #435), Keir Starmer should enact proportional representation to replace our first-past-the-post voting system, which in Europe we share only with the dictatorship in Belarus. This would almost certainly result in a coalition, but it would allow progressive parties to form a coherent bloc able to address the concerns of the electorate and the undemocratic voices coming from the far right. Changing the political landscape for ever would definitely be a case of thinking outside the box – clearly necessary when the whole shape of the box has so recently changed. To Starmer I would say: 'Feel the fear and do it anyway.' Robert Smith Totnes, Devon Freedom to die Sonia Sodha is in the wrong in opposing assisted dying (TNE #435). Such a decision should be entirely the prerogative of an individual without interference from anyone else. When my father was admitted to hospital in his final weeks, he knew his illness would end in delirium and hallucinations, and repeatedly expressed the wish to be 'given a pill' so that he could end his life in dignity on his terms while he was still compos mentis. A friend in Germany recently ended her life, as the German constitution allows, in the presence of a doctor and having had the necessary psychiatric/medical approval. If I ever fall ill or become disabled to the extent I can no longer enjoy life, I want the legal right to end it in a way of my choosing. No one should have the right to make me prolong my life against my wishes. No one who does not want to use a process of assisted dying need do so, but they should never impose their wishes on me. Bill Cooper Kinross, Scotland Language exchange Peter Trudgill's article on the variety of languages in the USA (TNE 434) reminded me of the London journalist William Howard Russell's trip there in 1863. In 'My Diary: North and South', Russell recorded this exchange outside Washington on the late arrival of his horse: ''Good heavens! Did I not tell you to be here at seven o'clock?' 'No, sir; Carl told me you wanted me at ten o'clock, and here I am.' 'Carl, did I not tell you to ask James to be round here at seven o'clock.' 'Not zeven clock, sere, but zehn clock. I tell him, you come at zehn clock.' 'Thus at one blow was I stricken down by Gaul and Teuton, each of whom retired with the air of a man who had baffled an intended indignity, and had achieved a triumph over a wrong-doer.' Phil Jones Bourne End, Bucks BELOW THE LINE Comments, conversation and correspondence from our online subscribers Thanks for 'The power of the underdog', Simon Barnes's wonderful tour of random underdogishness (TNE #436). 'Part of football's universal popularity is the way it provides more underdog victories than any other sport in the calendar' gives me a tiny inkling of a reason for our incomprehensible national obsession with football. John Valentine Philip Ball (Critical Mass, TNE #436) asks why MAGA is anti-science. Donald Trump is anti-science because it remains true whether you believe it or not. Science is the search for truth – anathema to Trump and MAGA. Russell Sage Re: 'A nuclear leap into the unknown' by Paul Mason (TNE #436). From the end of WWII we have had a clear idea about what was what and who was who. We were able to handle shocks like Sputnik, the death of Stalin and various White House changes, but we are no longer in that world. We now have technology we don't fully understand, coupled with an apparent collapse in old political structures. With hindsight, at the collapse of the Soviet Union we should have been looking for unforeseen consequences rather than business opportunities. Learn from this and accept we need to be nimble and cooperative, and beware of carpetbaggers like Trump. John Simpson Unfortunately, it seems the more 'intelligent' technology gets the more idiotic humanity becomes, or perhaps it's just that human intelligence is simply going to remain static while machines outpace us. The development of 'assets' such as these – ditto, hypersonic missiles and God knows what other 'toys' the military technologists are dreaming up – will, no doubt, be of enormous benefit to mankind. Steve Buch Great Lives (TNE #436) missed Robert Capa's coverage of the Battle of Troina, part of the forgotten war in Sicily, where he took poignant pictures of the encounter between the defeated Germans (with the Italians) and the ultimately victorious Americans. The inspired mayor, Fabio Venezia, has devoted a whole museum to Capa and his coverage of this largely unknown encounter. The museum is well worth a visit. Simon Stoddart JOIN THE CONVERSATION Subscribe and download our free new app to comment and chat with our writers
Business Mayor
23-05-2025
- General
- Business Mayor
Cryptocurrency could be regulated in Illinois: Here's how it would work
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Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Kraken Rolls Out Regulated Crypto Derivatives in Europe
Kraken is rolling out regulated crypto derivatives trading in Europe, compliant with the European Union's Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II). The crypto exchange's perpetual and fixed maturity futures contracts will now be available for retail and institutional customers in the European Economic Area (EEA), the firm said on Tuesday. Permission to trade crypto derivatives came via a Cypriot investment firm called Greenfield Wealth, which Kraken acquired earlier this year, securing the exchange a license from the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC). The crypto derivatives space has seen some significant moves lately, with big players like U.S.-listed Coinbase (COIN) acquiring leading trading platform Deribit. In Europe, exchanges such as Bitstamp and Gemini are entering the fold, while the MiFID II license held by FTX EU has been acquired by BackPack. Kraken also made a $1.5 billion acquisition of NinjaTrader to drive derivatives trading in the U.S. As well as its European license, Kraken acquired Crypto Facilities, a U.K. FCA-regulated crypto futures platform, in 2019. Kraken's joined-up approach means the contracts European clients will have access to already command a relatively high volume, roughly between $1 billion and $2 billion per day, according to Shannon Kurtas, head of exchange at Kraken. 'This is not offering access to a new trading venue or new contracts,' Kurtas said in an interview. 'These are existing contracts that have material volume trading on them and along with that comes established liquidity, better execution costs and fiat rails for getting collateral in and out efficiently and cheaply.' The recent introduction of Kraken's Embed crypto connectivity application means neobanks and fintechs in Europe can also offer derivatives, as well as spot, to their clients, Kurtas said. Picking up licenses in smaller and arguably more nimble jurisdictions like Cyprus and Malta has become a well-trodden path for Crypto firms with deep pockets. 'More nimble is probably a fair characterization,' Kurtas said. 'Also, there's been an established set of firms, particularly in the CFD space, who traditionally have offered retail access to FX derivatives and CFDs, and so there's kind of a nexus of individuals, firms and know-how, if you will, in the area for these products.' Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
