Latest news with #IrishDataProtectionCommission
The Journal
10-07-2025
- Business
- The Journal
TikTok under investigation over claims it misled Ireland's data regulator
IRELAND'S PRIVACY REGULATOR has opened an investigation into social media platform TikTok over allegations that it mislead the agency during a previous probe into the handling of European users' data. TikTok in May were fined €250m after it was found that it had stored European users' data on Chinese-hosted online servers . During that inquiry, the firm originally told the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) that the information was not housed within China and that its Beijing-based employees accessed users' details remotely. Advertisement It was later confirmed by TikTok that it had given erroneous information to investigators, the DPC said. On foot on that, a fresh inquiry has now opened into the platform's accountability when it comes to handling and managing the data of European citizens. TikTok is also under investigation for allegedly failing to adhere to Section 31 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which places an obligation on companies to cooperate with investigators from the DPC and other European privacy agencies. The transfer of data to China is also being reviewed once more, the DPC said today. In the first investigation, TikTok did correct the statements it originally gave to the Irish data watchdog, which had been probing the platform's compliance with GDPR and other relevant laws on behalf of the entire EU. It said that the original denial of the allegations was incorrect and that the company did in fact store information in China. Deputy Commissioner at the DPC Graham Doyle said that the agency was taking the mistaken statements very seriously at the time . Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
RTÉ News
10-07-2025
- Business
- RTÉ News
Irish data watchdog opens fresh probe into TikTok
The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) has announced that it has opened an inquiry into TikTok's transfers of European users' personal data to servers located in China. The investigation follows on from the DPC's decision of 30 April 2025, which also looked at the company's transfers of personal data to China under a separate inquiry. The DPC said that during that previous inquiry, TikTok maintained that transfers of European users' personal data to China took place by way of remote access only and that this user data was not stored on servers located within China. However, in April 2025, TikTok informed the DPC of an issue that it had discovered in February 2025, that limited European user data had in fact been stored on servers in China, contrary to TikTok's evidence to the previous inquiry. In a statement issued at the time of the conclusion of its previous inquiry, the DPC stated that it was taking those developments "very seriously" and was "considering what further regulatory action may be warranted, in consultation with our peer EU Data Protection Authorities". As a result of that consideration, the DPC has now decided to open this new inquiry into TikTok. The decision was taken by the Commissioners for Data Protection, Dr Des Hogan and Dale Sunderland, and was notified to TikTok earlier this week. The purpose of the inquiry is to determine whether TikTok has complied with its relevant obligations under the GDPR in the context of the transfers now at issue, including the lawfulness of the transfers. Following the previous investigation, the DPC fined TikTok €530 million. The video-sharing platform said it disagreed with the decision and that it planned to appeal it in full.
Euronews
19-06-2025
- Business
- Euronews
Irish privacy watchdog seeks extra funding to handle expanded role
The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) has said it needs more money to carry out additional tasks it now handles, including oversight of the EU AI Act. The AI Act – which regulates the technology according to the risk it poses to society – has already entered into force, but as of 2 August all member states need to appoint an oversight authority to ensure companies' compliance with the rules. In its annual report published Thursday, the DPC said that 'in light of new responsibilities and a significantly additional workload for the DPC as a result of the AI Act and other digital regulations [...] it is critical that we continue to receive funding increases enabling the expansion of our workforce.' 'The Government's continuing support will be critical to the DPC's ability to meet its EU wide responsibilities and the delivery of effective regulation in support of the digital economy,' it added. This year, the Irish already dealt with several AI questions, stemming from the launch of chatbot tools such as X's Grok and Meta AI. As the lead authority for Meta, it ordered the company to halt the tool last year due to concerns about the use of personal data of users of Facebook and Instagram to train its large language models (LLMs). Euronews reported in May that – with months to go until the deadline – in at least half of the 27 member states, it remains unclear which authority will be nominated as AI oversight body. In addition, countries need to adopt an implementing law that sets out penalties and that empower their watchdogs. Not all of them have yet done so. The Irish watchdog is currently overseeing the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Ireland, including those of the global big tech companies that registered their EU headquarters in Dublin. It received some 11,091 new cases and resolved 10,510 ones, the report said. It gathered a total of €652 million in fines. Its staff increased from 213 in early 2024 to 251 as of 1 January. The use of a powerful American 'bunker bomb' against Iran's nuclear facilities continues to weigh over the country's conflict with Israel. CNN reported that US President Donald Trump is warming to the idea of using military assets to strike Iranian nuclear facilities and that he is 'not much in the mood to negotiate with Iran'. One of the potential weapons that the US military has at its disposal, the GBU-57 A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), could reach one of Iran's key nuclear sites, which is buried deep in a mountain. Iran's deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, said on state TV on Thursday that Iran 'will have to use its tools to both teach a lesson to aggressors and defend its national security and national interests,' if the US decides to intervene in the conflict. The GBU-57 MOP is a weapons system that is designed to attack 'hard and deeply buried targets such as bunkers and tunnels,' according to a 2024 US Air Force report. An archived fact sheet from the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) says it is a '30,000 pound (13.6 tonnes) class penetrator bomb,' that is approximately 20.5 feet long and has a diameter of 31.5 inches. The DTRA said the weapon can carry over 5,300 pounds of explosive material and delivers '10 times' the explosive power of its predecessor, the BLU-109. The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) first contracted Boeing for the MOPs in 2004 with an initial contract worth $30 million (€26.2 million). The weapon was developed in three stages, the DTRA continued. The Air Force received the first bombs for testing in 2011, according to a report from the San Francisco Chronicle. The ordnance has been tested at the White Sands Missile Range, a military base in the US state of New Mexico. The Fordo Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP) is buried deep under a mountain near Qom, Iran, and is believed to be one of Iran's key uranium enrichment facilities for it's nuclear weapons programme, according to Heather Williams, director of the project on nuclear issues at US-based Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS). Rafael Mariano Grossi, the IAEA's director general, said on June 16 that there is so far no damage to the Fordo site, unlike the one at Natanz, which saw its pilot fuel enrichment plant destroyed. A recent report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) estimates that 166.6 kilograms of 60 per cent enriched uranium of the total 408.6 kilograms that Iran has at that enrichment percentage was produced at Fordow. Uranium needs to be enriched to roughly 90 per cent to become a nuclear weapon but experts have previously said that Iran could create weapons at 60 per cent enrichment. Israel lacks the ordnance to take out Fordow on its own, but 'multiple strikes' from the US GBU-57 that are mounted on B-2 bombers 'could destroy the facility,' Williams said. If President Trump decides to use the GBU-57, it could 'constitute direct support for Israel and have the potential to escalate and drag the US into another war in the region,' Williams wrote. There are other options that Israel could use to get to Fordo, Williams continued, like continual strikes at the facility by GPU-28 or BLU-109 weapons that can burrow into a target and could target above-ground entrances or exits to the facility.
Belfast Telegraph
02-05-2025
- Business
- Belfast Telegraph
TikTok fined £452m by EU authorities over data transfers to China
The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) said the social media company had breached the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by failing to ensure that user data would get equal levels of protection when transferred elsewhere, and was issuing the fine as the firm's lead supervisory authority in the EU.
New York Times
02-05-2025
- Business
- New York Times
TikTok Fined $600 Million for Sending European User Data to China
TikTok was fined 530 million euros ($600 million) on Friday for violating a European Union data privacy law after regulators found the company had improperly transferred users' personal data to China. The Irish Data Protection Commission, which announced the penalty, said TikTok failed to adequately protect data of its users in Europe, including some that was available to staff in China, in violation of the European Union's data privacy law, the General Data Protection Regulation. The fine is one of the largest imposed under the law and adds to the challenges faced by TikTok's Chinese owner, ByteDance, amid a U.S. effort to force the platform's sale to a non-Chinese company or be banned in the United States. Irish authorities said TikTok would be ordered to suspend data transfers to China within six months if it did not meet certain requirements. European regulators said TikTok's weak safeguards put at risk information about users across the 27-nation bloc. Irish authorities said the Chinese government, under its antiterrorism and anti-espionage laws, could have gained access to those users' data. TikTok, which has about 175 million users across Europe, said in a statement that it complies with European Union laws. The company has 'never received a request for European user data from the Chinese authorities, and has never provided European user data to them,' TikTok said. TikTok said it planned to appeal the decision, a move that could set up a yearslong court battle between it and the Irish government, which is TikTok's main regulator in Europe. TikTok's European headquarters are in Ireland, and its government is charged with enforcing the General Data Protection Regulation. TikTok said the Irish Data Protection Commission did not account for a 2023 initiative to spend 12 billion euros to fence in data of users inside the European Union. The project included construction of a data center in Finland. 'This ruling risks setting a precedent with far-reaching consequences for companies and entire industries across Europe that operate on a global scale,' TikTok said in a statement. On Friday, Irish regulators said that last month, TikTok said it had discovered a 'limited' amount of user data had been stored on servers inside China after it had repeatedly denied doing so. European users were not 'afforded a level of protection essentially equivalent to that guaranteed within the E.U.,' Graham Doyle, deputy commissioner of the Irish Data Protection Commission, said in a statement.
