TikTok, the Chinese-owned social media app, is to face a fine after the European Data Protection Board (EUDPB) found it in violation of GDPR for its processing of teenagers’ and children’s data.

The EUDPB made a final decision after the case was passed on to the overriding authority by the Irish Data Protection Court (DPC). Like many major technology companies including Apple, Meta, and Microsoft, TikTok’s European headquarters are based in Ireland, and many of their data protection cases full under the Irish data regulator.

In this case, which was originally brought up in 2021, users questioned if TikTok was in violation of GDPR for having users under the age of 13 on the platform despite potentially insufficient age-verification methods. Further, the company came under fire for not having specific stipulations for the processing of children’s data as set out by GDPR.

The Irish DPC could not reach a final decision after receiving pushback from other EU member nation authorities, resulting in the case being pushed up to the EU-wide court.

The EUDPB’s decision means that the Irish DPC will now have to deliberate and issue a fine to the company, as well as define any compliance measures the company must take.

TikTok was previously fined for the mishandling of child’s data in the UK, resulting in a £12.7m fine from the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Further, in the EU, TikTok, along with other big tech corporations, are attempting to meet compliance for upcoming EU legislation concerning digital services.

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The EU’s Digital Services Act will require large online platforms, like TikTok, Facebook, and Google, to moderate illegal content on their platforms, stop certain advertising practices, and even provide data to law authorities.

In a voluntary “stress test” taken by TikTok to test their current policies under the upcoming regulations, the EU said the company had much more to do to meet compliance standards.

Some of the new measures the company said they took to become compliant include allowing users to disable personalised recommendations for videos, remove targeted advertising for under-aged users, and make reporting illegal content more straightforward.