In an effort to soothe rising worries about data privacy for its users in the West, TikTok, a popular Chinese-owned video-sharing app, announced Friday that it is preparing to build two new data centers in Europe.
Authorities in Europe and the United States have criticized TikTok on worries that it may collect vast amounts of user data and transport it to China.
Rich Waterworth, the company’s general manager for European operations, said in a blog post that they are “in an advanced stage of finalizing a proposal” for a second data center in Ireland with a third-party supplier. There, its first center was revealed last year.
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TikTok is also in discussions to open a third data center in Europe, though it has not yet decided on a site.
Regarding local data storage, Waterworth stated, “We’re seeking to extend our European data storage capacity in step with the expansion of our community.
TikTok intends to build 2 new data centers
Starting this year, data for TikTok users in Europe will be transferred to the new data centers, according to Waterworth.
Young people love TikTok, but because it is owned by China, there are concerns that Beijing may use it to gather information on Western users or spread false information and pro-China narratives. ByteDance, a Chinese business that relocated its headquarters to Singapore in 2020, is the owner of TikTok.
CEO Shou Zi Chew was informed last month that the business will have to adhere to the stringent new digital regulations set forth by the 27-nation bloc.
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The Digital Services Act requires computer businesses and internet platforms with 45 million or more users to take further measures to remove unlawful content and misinformation or risk facing potentially billion-dollar fines.
According to a report from TikTok on Friday, the app has 125 million monthly active users in the EU, which placed it over the line for more inspection under the new regulations that will go into force later this year.
TikTok boasts 150 million users worldwide, excluding non-EU nations like Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
According to monthly user figures, they disclosed in time for a Friday deadline, Google, Twitter, Apple, Facebook, and Instagram will also be subject to the more stringent EU examination.
According to parent firm Meta, Facebook has 255 million monthly active users, while Instagram has 250 million. According to Twitter, there are 100.9 million users overall, including both signed-in users and non-users.
Apple could not provide a precise figure but stated that the iOS App Store has more than 45 million users. According to Google, there are 332 million active users of its Search service, compared to 401.7 million active users of YouTube.
