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Irish privacy watchdog hits TikTok with €530M fine over data transfers to China

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Re: Irish privacy watchdog hits TikTok with €530M fine over data transfers to China

#81

Post by skeeter2020 »

diggan wrote: post #50
SilverBirch wrote: post #40

Two things I wonder about: first are these fines actually going to happen or is the sort of thing where it gets appealed indefinitely. And second, where do the fines go? It sounds a lot like since Ireland is where Tiktok is getting fined the fines go to the Irish government which would seem crazy. The fines are assessed in the context of the full EU, but only Ireland gets the revenue? This is broken.

> And second, where do the fines go? Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but the income from the money eventually flows into the overall EU budget, so it's like we (EU residents) get a tiny rebate on our taxes. But seems to also depend on each country, Spain is somewhat unique in that the DPA seems to keep it themselves.

>> so it's like we (EU residents) get a tiny rebate on our taxes.

Don't know specifically about this scenario, but I've never seen a government's general revenues account treated like this. Governments rarely pay "dividends" - unless you're a targeted voting block they decide to go after.

Re: Irish privacy watchdog hits TikTok with €530M fine over data transfers to China

#82

Post by Rygian »

PurpleRamen wrote: post #66
prof-dr-ir wrote: post #7

'massive' -- by which standards? It is high time we got used to companies being fined a reasonable fraction of their revenue. And TikTok's global revenue last year alone was estimated at $20 billion to $26 billion [1]. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/17/technology/tiktok-ban-byt...

> 'massive' -- by which standards? Other fines? Going by amount, it seems somewhere in the top 20 of highest single case fines of all time. Top 3 if we just look at privacy fines in Europe. > It is high time we got used to companies being fined a reasonable fraction of their revenue How does "getting used to it" changes the classification? It's still a massive amount, even it such numbers are becoming more common. An…

The point being that the actual absolute amount should not get as much attention as the percentage of revenue it represents.

Re: Irish privacy watchdog hits TikTok with €530M fine over data transfers to China

#84

Post by noirscape »

docdeek wrote: post #44
noirscape wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a case involving their European customers. If you do business in Europe, there's a bunch of (good!) privacy regulations you have to comply with. One of these is that you're not allowed to transfer the data to a jurisdiction that doesn't follow equivalent protections to the GDPR[0]. TikTok transferred European user data to their Chinese servers, which is a pretty obvious no-go, since the Chinese government is an…

Do you know if there is a reason they would not domicile in Malta? It's an EU Member State, English speaking, and if buying off politicians in Ireland is easy, it must be easier in Malta with a population of only 550,000 people.

My guess is just physical/lazy reasons. Before this, they were homed in the UK, whose special arrangements meant that they could avoid a lot of EU regulations that way.

Then Brexit happened and they just moved to the nearest available option.

Re: Irish privacy watchdog hits TikTok with €530M fine over data transfers to China

#85

Post by LYK-love »

graemep wrote: post #25
_Algernon_ wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Questionable whether that will still be true in 4 years. At least China can still be expected to operate rationally.

Really? A nice rational genocide or two? China is an expansionist dictatorship. It would be ridiculous to suggest it is more trustworthy than the US. The US is actually acting rationally IMO. People just look at headlines and do not dig into the reasons. You might not agree with the reasoning, but it is not irrational. For example the tariffs clearly follow from arguments made by Trump's appointees (such as Bessent a…

I happen to live in China right now and am using a VPN. I find your comments to be fundamentally incorrect. I live here more than 20 years and can't find any information about genocide, and I have a lot of (I suppose you are talking about) Xinjiang friends. Yes, there are extremists in Xinjiang with foreign funding. And The the government prepares extreme religious individuals for modern society. This process involves learning Chinese and learning basic skills to have a job. If people really died there, why we Chinese people don't know it? I mean I can literally drive to Xinjiang to check these information.

If you don't believe my words and still think people are oppressed in Xinjiang or whatever place, please apply a Chinese visa and visit here. If your visit is short-term, then a visa is not even needed.

Your narratives about China reflect self-projection. Western historical treatment of minorities doesn't mirror our approach. It's like saying Chinese people are too oppressed to afford bread or are forced to pick cotton—ignoring that bread isn't a Chinese staple and cotton-picking doesn't carry any other cultural meanings here.

By the way, if I said capitalism makes Americans too poor to eat rice, wouldn't you find that ridiculous? I'm sure you would, because you guys generally don't eat rice. This projection is exactly what your views about China represent.

Re: Irish privacy watchdog hits TikTok with €530M fine over data transfers to China

#86

Post by trollbridge »

AlchemistCamp wrote: post #11
prof-dr-ir wrote: post #7

'massive' -- by which standards? It is high time we got used to companies being fined a reasonable fraction of their revenue. And TikTok's global revenue last year alone was estimated at $20 billion to $26 billion [1]. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/17/technology/tiktok-ban-byt...

What bearing does their global revenue have on what Ireland has any jurisdiction to fine them? I'm not a fan or user of TikTok, but what they earn on other continents is none of Ireland's business.

Ireland's business is whatever Ireland wants it to be, if TikTok wants the pleasure of being allowed to operate in Ireland jurisdictions.

And yes, everything a multi-billion dollar company does is indeed the government's business - and the people's business. We have a right to regulate them as we see fit.

Re: Irish privacy watchdog hits TikTok with €530M fine over data transfers to China

#87

Post by trollbridge »

docdeek wrote: post #44
noirscape wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a case involving their European customers. If you do business in Europe, there's a bunch of (good!) privacy regulations you have to comply with. One of these is that you're not allowed to transfer the data to a jurisdiction that doesn't follow equivalent protections to the GDPR[0]. TikTok transferred European user data to their Chinese servers, which is a pretty obvious no-go, since the Chinese government is an…

Do you know if there is a reason they would not domicile in Malta? It's an EU Member State, English speaking, and if buying off politicians in Ireland is easy, it must be easier in Malta with a population of only 550,000 people.

Malta is no longer trying to be an "offshore" destination with lax regulations.

Re: Irish privacy watchdog hits TikTok with €530M fine over data transfers to China

#88

Post by trollbridge »

faraggi wrote: post #69
codetrotter wrote: post #8

Є in the title of the HN submission is not the Euro symbol. € is.

Also, the € symbol is a suffix to amounts, not a prefix like $.

I just trust whatever the LC_CURRENCY settings do.

Re: Irish privacy watchdog hits TikTok with €530M fine over data transfers to China

#89

Post by trollbridge »

petesergeant wrote: post #3

> Grahn said TikTok has “has never received a request for European user data from the Chinese authorities, and has never provided European user data to them.” lol, ok. Chinese intelligence services must be completely asleep at the wheel (doubtful)

Yes, because it was a command not a request.

Re: Irish privacy watchdog hits TikTok with €530M fine over data transfers to China

#90

Post by dmix »

prof-dr-ir wrote: post #7

'massive' -- by which standards? It is high time we got used to companies being fined a reasonable fraction of their revenue. And TikTok's global revenue last year alone was estimated at $20 billion to $26 billion [1]. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/17/technology/tiktok-ban-byt...

How is $600M not massive?
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