The DPC received 16,160 new cases in 2025, up from the previous year, while concluding 11,734 cases, a 12 per cent increase, according to its annual report.

Chairperson Dr Des Hogan said the watchdog faced an unprecedented rise in complaints, many of which involved AI-generated submissions, while rapid advances in AI technology were creating new risks for personal data.

The regulator concluded 208 cross-border complaints as the lead supervisory authority for the EU and EEA, a 43 per cent increase on 2024.

Data breach notifications fell by 16 per cent to 6,521, with almost half involving correspondence sent to the wrong recipient. The DPC said it had closed 85 per cent of those cases by the end of the year.

The commission also increased its enforcement activity, concluding 275 investigations into electronic direct marketing, up 88 per cent on 2024, and issuing 50 warning letters to companies over unsolicited marketing.

Four major inquiries were completed during the year, resulting in administrative fines totalling more than €530.77 million.

Those included a €530 million penalty imposed on TikTok over transfers of European Economic Area user data to China, alongside an order requiring the company to suspend the transfers and bring its processing into compliance.

The DPC also fined the Department of Social Protection €550,000 following an investigation into its use of biometric facial templates for Public Services Card registration and ordered it to stop processing the data within nine months unless it establishes a lawful basis.

Alongside the annual report, the DPC published a survey of more than 1,000 parents in Ireland and France examining “sharenting” – the practice of posting information and images of children online.

The survey found that three in four parents had shared content about their children during the past year, while one in three did so daily or several times a week.

It also found that 40 per cent of parents rarely or never sought their child’s consent before posting, and one in 10 said they regretted sharing content about their children online. In Ireland, 66 per cent of parents were concerned about strangers misusing their children’s images and 55 per cent cited risks from AI and deepfakes.