China denies asking firms to collect data illegally after new EU probe
Published on: Fri, Jul 11, 2025
By: AFP Text Size: TikTok was fined €530 million in May by the Data Protection Commission over sending personal data to China. (AP pic) BEIJING: Beijing denied today asking firms to 'illegally' collect and store users' personal information, after an Irish regulator helping the EU regulate data privacy began investigating Chinese social media giant TikTok. 'The Chinese government attaches great importance to and protects data privacy and security in accordance with the law,' foreign ministry spokesman Mao Ning said. Beijing 'has never and will never require companies or individuals to illegally collect or store data', Mao said. 'We hope that the European side will respect the market economy and fair competition, and provide a fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment for companies from all countries,' she told a regular news conference. The social media giant has been in the crosshairs of Western governments for years over fears that personal data could be used by China for espionage or propaganda purposes. However, TikTok has insisted that it has never received any requests from Chinese authorities for European users' data. TikTok was fined €530 million in May by the Data Protection Commission over sending personal data to China, although the Chinese social media giant had insisted this data was only accessed remotely. TikTok, which has 1.5 billion users worldwide, is a division of Chinese tech giant ByteDance. * Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel and Telegram for breaking news alerts and key updates! * Do you have access to the Daily Express e-paper and online exclusive news? Check out subscription plans available.
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