Some time ago, we already wrote that due to concerns about espionage by the Chinese government, both the US and Canadian governments, as well as the European Commission, banned officials from using “TikTok” on their work devices. At the time, TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, boasted that no user data was being handed over to the Chinese government, and reassured that the company was working on building local data centers. Part of what was said has apparently turned out to be true, as TikTok has just opened Europe’s first data center, located in Dublin.
With the opening of the new data center, “TikTok” has immediately started the transfer of European users’ information to it, which is planned to be completed at the end of 2024. The company has also informed that it is working on opening two additional data centers in Europe, one of which will be located in Norway and the other also in Ireland. Consequently, there will be a total of two TikTok data centers in Ireland, which is quite understandable, since this country is home to one of Europe’s main data protection authorities.
All of the new data centers are part of TikTok’s Project Clover initiative, which aims to localize the storage of European user data and ease privacy concerns. A similar project – “Project Texas” – has been implemented by the company in the USA. TikTok also says it is working with British data security firm NCC Group, which is examining how the company handles data control, protection, monitoring data flows and incident reporting.
It should be noted that TikTok’s decision to open a data center in Ireland comes at a time when the European Union is implementing the Digital Services Act, which specifically restricts large online platforms, forcing users to provide more control over content. The new rules specifically apply to TikTok, which must give users the option to opt out of content recommendations.
2023-09-06 08:00:00
#effort #regulators #TikTok #opening #data #center #Europe
