TikTok — transfers to China — 60s explainer (E03)

01 / 08 · Setup

MY DATA ON TIKTOK.

where is it physically?

02 / 08 · Tension

EUROPE ? DUBLIN, OSLO — AND CHINA.

staff access in Beijing

03 / 08 · Reveal

SCHREMS II

adequacy: China — no · US before 2023 — no

04 / 08 · Mechanism

EU data → EU servers → BUT access by engineers in China

EU servers

Dublin · Oslo · Singapore

no Schrems II safeguards

ByteDance Beijing

T&S · engineers

150+ million EU users · audit window 2020–2022

05 / 08 · Scale

150 MILLION EU USERS. PROJECT CLOVER: €12 BILLION.

2021 DPC opens 2023 safeguards May 2025 fine

€530M

DPC fine

€12B

Project Clover

150M+

EU users

06 / 08 · Investigation

DPC IRELAND

DPC Ireland

since 2021

BfDI

German complaints

audit 2020–2022

review window

second-largest fine after Meta €1.2B

07 / 08 · Penalty

€530M

DPC Ireland · May 2025

+ PAFACA in the US · SCOTUS January 2025 ban upheld. Project Clover: €12B TikTok investment in "European architecture."

08 / 08

PROJECT CLOVER

Built only after the leak. Second-largest GDPR fine after Meta.
Case E03 in Big Tech Files.