The announcement comes at a time when TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is working to distance itself from Chinese operations in a bid to placate regulators elsewhere.
TikTok is investing $500 million to set-up its first European data centre in Ireland, Bloomberg has reported.
The centre is expected to be operational by 2022 and promises to shorten the load times for users in Europe. Data from European user will be stored here once the centre opens. The Chinese video-sharing social networking service currently stores data from international user on servers in the United States and Singapore.
The company has said it would create hundreds of jobs and improve “the safeguarding and protection of TikTok user data,” the Bloomberg report suggests.
Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report.
This comes at a time when TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is working to distance itself from Chinese operations in a bid to placate regulators elsewhere. The video –sharing application was among the Chinese applications banned in India in June. In the US, President Donald Trump has threatened to do the same.
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The world’s most valuable startup has been accused by US legislators and the Trump administration of pick user data, which they claim is creating a national security risk. The Beijing-based parent company has been given a six-week deadline to conclude a deal with an American company for the sale of its US operations. It is in advanced talks with Microsoft.
Also Read: How the TikTok phenomenon democratised online space in India
ByteDance launched TikTok in 2017, before purchasing popular video service Musical.ly. The two properties were subsequently merged. TikTok has hundreds of millions of users globally.
The platform’s fun, goofy videos and ease of use has made it popular. In the US, tech giants like Facebook and Snapchat see it as a competitive threat.