ByteDance could be fined more than €500m – $552m at current exchange rates – by Ireland’s privacy regulator the DPC. That’s according to Bloomberg, which reported yesterday on the potential fine.
It would relate to a GDPR investigation into data on European TikTok users being illegally sent to China to be accessed by engineers. It’s not the only big tech firm facing a big fine in the EU however.
The New York Times reported that European regulators are “preparing major penalties” against X (formerly Twitter) for breaking laws around illicit content and disinformation. One of its sources suggested the fine could be more than $1bn.
Meanwhile, other US tech giants – currently seeing billions wiped off their market caps following President Trump’s tariffs announcement on Wednesday – could see an additional penalty in Europe when the EU responds to those tariffs.
Euractiv reported on comments by French government spokesperson Sophie Primas about a likely EU response by the end of April with retaliatory tariffs on “all products, and I want to stress this – services will be included… digital services, including those provided by the GAFAM.”
That being Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft. Could YouTube Music, Amazon Music and Apple Music be included in that? This could get messy.
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