The data of the European users of the popular app TikTok will soon be stored locally. That says the company, which announces two additional European data centers in Dublin (Ireland) and Hamar (Norway).
Currently, the data of European users of the app, owned by the Chinese concern Bytedance, is stored in Singapore and the United States. Last year, TikTok already announced its first data center in Dublin. That would be up and running by the end of the month. The two new ones could be operational by the end of this year.
“We will start storing European TikTok user data locally this year and the migration will continue into 2024,” the company says. “Once operational, these three data centers will represent a total annual investment of €1.2 billion.”
There is concern in Western countries that data via the app could end up with the Chinese authorities. The company itself rejects that and says it has never received requests in that direction from the Chinese government and would not respond to it.
Data processing
Just like in the United States, TikTok is rolling out a plan in Europe with which it tries to convince that data processing is done correctly. It will be impossible for the Chinese government to force TikTok to transfer European data, the company says. In addition, external audits and audits would minimize the risk of loophole access.
Employees of the company outside Europe will still have access to data, but only for specific reasons and with strict procedures that will be supervised by an external company, it sounds.
The European Commission and other European institutions have in recent weeks instructed their staff to remove the app from their work phones, citing privacy and cybersecurity concerns.
Read also: US law in the works to ban TikTok
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