In a rebuke to the European Union’s crackdown on data privacy violations, China has firmly denied requiring companies to hand over user data, even as its social media giant TikTok faces a staggering fine over its handling of personal information.
The statement from China’s Ministry of Commerce comes in the wake of the European Union’s decision to slap TikTok with a record-breaking €750 million ($807 million) penalty for breaching the bloc’s strict data protection rules. The fine, imposed by Luxembourg’s data privacy watchdog, marks a significant escalation in the EU’s efforts to hold tech companies accountable for their data practices.
According to the regulators, TikTok failed to have a legal basis for its processing of user data and did not properly obtain consent from its European users. The platform, owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance, was also found to have inadequately informed individuals about the data collection and usage.
In a defiant response, China’s Ministry of Commerce asserted that the country “does not require companies to provide data overseas.” The ministry stated that it “firmly opposes” the EU’s decision and accused the bloc of “abusing its regulatory power” to target Chinese companies.
The TikTok fine is the latest in a series of high-profile data privacy battles between China and the West. The Chinese government has long been accused of using its influence over domestic tech companies to gather vast amounts of personal information, a practice that has raised concerns about surveillance and data security.
However, Beijing has consistently denied these allegations, insisting that it respects individual privacy and does not engage in the kind of data harvesting that has drawn the ire of regulators around the world. The ministry’s statement on the TikTok case appears to be part of this ongoing effort to push back against the growing scrutiny of Chinese tech firms’ data practices.
The battle over data sovereignty is likely to continue, as the EU and other Western nations seek to assert their own data privacy standards and rein in the global dominance of Chinese tech companies. With billions of euros in fines and the threat of further legal action, the stakes are high for both sides in this ongoing data privacy showdown.
