TikTok tops 200 million European users, expands commerce amid regulatory pressure
Key Facts
TikTok's monthly audience in Europe exceeded 200 million people, according to a company announcement in September 2025, while its commercial operations expanded to attract European businesses to its shop. The platform's reported audience metric covers 32 countries, including the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Norway. The company said in its statement that "more than 200 million people across Europe now come to TikTok every month". In a separate statement in May 2026 on the shop's expansion, it announced that more than 100,000 European businesses had joined its shopping service. The markets that attracted those businesses include France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Ireland. According to the same statement, daily gross merchandise value in those European shop markets recorded triple-digit percentage growth between August 2025 and February 2026.
Against the backdrop of Europe's media sector, Axel Springer reorganised its corporate structure in April 2025 and later announced the completion of its acquisition of Telegraph Media Group. The group said Friede Springer and Mathias Döpfner together owned 95% of its shares following the restructuring. It described itself at the time as a "debt-free family-owned media company". The Telegraph acquisition was completed after the required regulatory approvals were secured, according to the group's announcement of the transaction's completion. Those approvals covered the United Kingdom, Ireland and Austria, according to the statement.
In the United States, TikTok announced the ownership structure of its U.S. joint venture in January 2026, with participation from Silver Lake, Oracle and MGX. Silver Lake's stake is 15%, according to the company's announcement. Oracle holds an identical stake, as does MGX, according to the announced ownership breakdown. ByteDance retained a 19.9% stake in the U.S. joint venture. TikTok said in its announcement that "ByteDance retains 19.9% of the joint venture".
In Europe, Ireland's Data Protection Commission imposed total administrative fines of 530 million euros on TikTok in a decision issued in May 2025. The decision concerned transfers of European users' data to China, as well as transparency requirements. The regulator said "the decision includes administrative fines totalling 530 million euros". The decision also included a conditional order to suspend TikTok's transfers to China. Implementation of the suspension is contingent on the company failing to bring its data processing into compliance with the requirements within the specified deadline, according to the Irish regulator.
TikTok also faces legal proceedings over its designation as a "gatekeeper" under the Digital Markets Act, with an adviser to the European Court of Justice recommending that its challenge to the designation be dismissed, according to Reuters. In a separate regulatory case, preliminary investigation findings published in July 2026 addressed the safety of minors' accounts and settings governing the availability and recommendation of their content under the Digital Services Act. The company can review the investigation documents and submit its response before a decision is issued, Reuters reported. The decision could include a fine of up to 6% of TikTok's annual global revenue. Access to the documents and a response to the preliminary findings precede the conclusion of these regulatory proceedings.