Irish Supreme Court Grants Stay Allowing TikTok EU-China Data Transfers Pending Appeal

The Irish Supreme Court confirmed on Thursday that TikTok can continue data transfers from the European Union to China during its appeal against a regulator's order to halt them over privacy concerns. The court agreed that the stay on the TikTok data transfer ban should remain in place during the time until the High Court makes its judgment in the appeal.

The appeal case against the fine and the transfer ban has already been heard by the Irish High Court.

The Irish Data Protection Commission fined TikTok 530 million euro ($620 million) last May. The commission also ordered TikTok to suspend data transfers to China if its processing was not brought into compliance within six months. The Irish High Court in November imposed a stay on the ban on TikTok data transfers.

The High Court stated that the risk to consumers from the TikTok data transfers was limited and temporary. It also stated that the damage that would be suffered by TikTok in the event of a suspension was nearly impossible to quantify. The Irish Data Protection Commission stated that TikTok had failed to ensure any data accessed remotely by personnel based in China was afforded a level of protection equivalent to that provided within the European Union.

The commission is TikTok's lead EU privacy regulator. TikTok stated that it has never received a request for European user data from the Chinese authorities.

TikTok stated that the Irish regulator failed to fully take into account data security measures first rolled out in 2023 that independently monitor remote access.